The Outbreak
by FutureFamousAuthor108
Summary: When an a zombie apocalypse tears through the world, a quiet, friendly jock (Jason), a popular cheerleader (Annabeth), a quiet outcast (Piper), a bad boy (Percy), a shy, young artist (Hazel), a clumsy jock (Frank), a miserable emo kid (Nico), and a crazed Latino elf (Leo), must strive to survive through it despite all the obstacles before them. Rated T for gore and some swearing.
1. Oh look, the zombie apocalypse

Annabeth Pov

"How'd you do on your English essay?" My best friend, Thalia asked me as we walked through the school. I wore my usual cheerleading outfit while Thalia wore a more punk outfit: a leather pants, a white tee shirt, a black leather jacket, and black combat boots. It wouldn't seem like we would be friends but we've known eachother since we were kids. Plus, Thalia was a senior, so she never ate lunch the same time as I did anyway.

I shrugged. "Same as usual."

Thalia grinned as she blew a bubble with her bubblegum. "So an A plus." She guessed as we got to her locker.

I smiled. "Of course. I've got to get to class. See you around." I said, turning away.

Thalia smirked. "Have fun in hell." She said, opening her locker, which was messy, crammed with books and torn papers.

I skipped off to the stairs, my other three friends joining me. "Annabeth!" Silena called, joining my side along with Drew and Katie. "Pool party at Jason's tonight! Are you going?" She asked as I reached my locker. I spun the lock, unlocking my locker. I grabbed my Latin book and sighed. "Do I have to?" I asked, looking in the mirror inside my locker and fixing my hair.

Silena rolled her eyes. "Oh _come on_. Who knows? Maybe you'll meet someone." She said, looking at Drew. "Drew met that cute football kid at the last party and I met Charlie at your party." She said, looking back at me. I turned around to face her, shutting my locker. "Well, maybe every boy at this school just wants to get a girl in bed." I said, turning for the stairs.

Katie rolled her eyes. "Annabeth, please. It won't be fun without you there."

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Okay, okay. I'll go. I'm just tired of every guy trying to hit on me every five seconds." I said as we walked down the stairs.

Drew rolled her eyes. "Only you wouldn't want guys hitting on you."

I frowned. "I just want a guy that actually likes me for me, not my looks or popularity." I said as we walked inside the Latin classroom.

Behind me, I knew that Drew was rolling her eyes and giving Katie and Silena some look, but I didn't care. It was true. All the guys I've been on a date with so far were all equally terrible. One even tried to slip his hand up my skirt at the restaurant we were eating at.

We took our usual seats in the back of the classroom near the jocks. I spotted Jason joking around with Frank, Charlie, and a few of the other jocks. He saw me and gave me a little smile. Although our groups were friends, we didn't really talk much. Jason seemed much more quiet and laid back than the rest of his friends. Several girls in the class had crushes on his blonde and blue eyed American good looks. I found him cute, but not my type. Like I said, he and I never really talked, so I didn't know his personality well enough to develop a crush on him. Drew had once tried to get her way with him, but he somehow managed to dodge her flirting.

Mr Brunner rolled in to the front of the class, sitting in his wheelchair as usual. He cleared his throat and all talking immediately stopped. "Good morning, students. Now, today's topic will be-"

The door swung open, a boy entering. Mr Brunner stopped talking, looking over to the boy who'd just walked in late: Percy Jackson.

Percy Jackson was a definite bad boy with his black skinny jeans, black sneakers, red tee shirt, black leather jacket, mischievous twinkling green eyes, and slicked back raven black hair. Tucked in his jean pocket was a small pocket knife, rumored to have been used in a fight in the parking lot of the school. Nothing was known about his parents except that his mother worked in a candy shop. Although Percy didn't have any friends, everyone knew not to mess with him.

Late as always, he just smirked at Mr Brunner, who raised an eyebrow. "Late again, Mr Jackson?" He asked, looking up a Percy.

Percy just shrugged. "I was busy doing more important things." He turned and strolled over to a seat all the way in the back, lifting his feet and resting them on the desk in front of him.

I rolled my eyes. "Well, maybe to _some_ people school actually means something." I said loudly, glaring back at him.

Percy just rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

Mr Brunner sighed. "Well, to continue our lesson. As I was previously stating…" He went on about verb phrases. I began taking notes. I soon heard whispering around me, which confused me. I looked up to see a boy stagger into the classroom, his eyes bloodshot, his walking uncoordinated as he growled, shuffling towards Mr Brunner.

I could only watch in fear as Mr Bruner glanced behind him to see the boy. "Oh, Mr Klint. What are you-" He was cut off by the boy tackling him to the ground, blood splattering the ground all around him. My eyes widened as several kids began to scream, jumping up out of their seats. The boy raised his head, turning around and looking right at me, blood staining his teeth and all around his mouth. Silena grabbed my arm, pulling me out of my chair. "Annabeth, _run_!" My heart raced as I pulled Silena out of the classroom, looking around frantically at the scene before me. All the way down the hallway, kids were staggering around, moaning and groaning, blood staining their lips and clothes, their eyes a dull red. Others were lying on the ground in a gruesome state. The ones staggering around immediately turned in the direction of Silena and I.

I turned to Silena, who was panicking, her eyes wide, her jaw dropped. "Silena, run for the side exit! All the other students will be going for the front so you'll have a better chance of escaping if you take the side one." I said, glancing back at the kids, who were slowly shuffling towards us, growling loudly.

Silena gave me a panicked, fearful look. "But what about you?" She asked, glancing behind me at the kids, who were coming closer and closer.

I glanced back before looking back at Silena. "I'll-I'll hold them off. I'll be fine. Meet me in your car." I said, squeezing Silena's hand tightly.

Silena nodded. "Okay." She answered, in more of a scared whisper. She ran off wildly in the direction of the side exit.

I turned around to see a bunch of the zombies staggering towards me. Fear gripped me, no logical options for survival coming to my mind. I took a step backwards, hitting the locker behind me. I looked around for a weapon-anything that would help me fend off the zombies, but spotted none. I took a quick, shallow breath in as the zombies came closer, hands outstretched to grab me.

"Up here!"

I looked up to see Percy sitting on the top of the lockers, offering me his hand to grab. "Quickly!" He said, looking down at the zombies, who were getting closer and closer to me, hands outstretched.

Without a second thought, I grabbed his hand. He hoisted me up onto the lockers.

We stared at eachother for a second. "Thanks." I finally said, glancing down at the zombies, who were crowded below us, all reaching out to grab us.

Percy shrugged. "It was nothing. The only problem is, we have to wait until the zombies get bored of us to get down." He said, glancing down at the zombies. "I mean...we could jump down now, but they'd just bite us within seconds." He said, looking back up at me.

I bit my lip. "This is really happening. Zombies."

Percy nodded. "Guess so." He said, running his hand through his hair. "You're Annabeth Chase, right? Miss preppy popular cheerleader?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, and you're Percy Jackson, Mr leather jacket Bad Boy." I answered.

Percy winked. "At your service, Princess."

I frowned. "Don't call me that."

"Whatever you say, Princess." Percy said smirking.

I rolled my eyes before glancing down. "The zombies finally left. I think it's our chance to escape."

Percy nodded. We both jumped down, landing on our feet. Percy glanced at me before looking up to the right, where the zombies were all headed. "Well, the front entrance is a suicide battle. Best route for us is the side entrance to the football field." He said, glancing back at me.

I crossed my arms. "So all of a sudden there's an "us" now? I thought you'd want to go all alone." I said, raising an eyebrow.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Princess, you won't last five seconds out there with your little cheerleader gear on. With me, you might last ten."

"Hey!"

"I'm not gonna stay with you. I just want make sure you're okay. I'm running off on my own after you get all situated or whatever." Percy said, looking at me.

I frowned. "Since when do you care about me?"

Percy scowled. "I just don't want to see you get bitten and mauled to pieces by those zombies. I don't care about you. I don't care about anyone but myself."

I rolled my eyes. "Sure."

Percy glared at me before glancing right. "We should get going. The zombies will soon spread everywhere."

I nodded. We both ran to down the hallway, the hallway thankfully empty of zombies. We made it to the side exit and stopped at the scene in front of us. Kids were lying on the ground, body parts missing, some mauled to bits and pieces. I recognized a girl lying face up, the bottom half of her body gone.

"No-" I choked back as sob as I recognized the body as Silena's, blood and dirt covering her pretty face. I turned and threw up, my legs giving away beneath me as I crumpled to the ground in a fit of tears, knowing her death rested on my hands. I'd sent her to her death

Percy grabbed my arm, pulling me up. "Whoa, whoa, are you okay? What happened?" He asked, his brow furrowing in concern.

I sobbed, unable to say anything as I gestured to whatever was left of Silena Beauregard. Percy patted my shoulder. "Hey, hey, we've got to get going, okay?" His voice was softer, more gentle. I nodded, wiping the tears from my eyes.

Percy grabbed my hand and pulled me away from Silena. We quietly walked across the football field. Then we spotted five zombies a little away from us. "Shit." Percy muttered under his breath.

I pointed to a supply shed to the left. "There." Percy nodded and we both quietly walked over to it. I opened the door and we both stepped into the shed, shutting the door behind us, the lights already on for some reason. Jason and a girl immediately jumped out at us, bats in hand, ready to attack.

"Wait, Annabeth?" Jason asked, lowering his bat.

The girl looked at me, lowering her bat. She had choppy brown hair like someone cut it with a knife, kaleidoscope eyes, and wore blue skinny jeans, white running shoes, and a red sweater. She looked at me curiously, like she knew who I was, although I had no idea who she was.

I nodded. "It's-It's just us." I said, glancing at Percy, who just glowered. "Great. A dumb jock." He said, looking at Jason, whose eyes narrowed. "You wanna go, man?" He asked, raising the bat.

I jumped in between them. "Hey! We don't need anyone fighting right now." I said, glancing at Percy and then at Jason, who both looked ready to murder eachother.

The girl nodded. "I agree with Annabeth. We need to form a plan to get out of here."

Percy snorted. "_We_? There's no _we_ in this. You three can go on a suicide mission, but I'm going lone wolf. You idiots will just get us all killed."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. We don't need you anyway." I said, crossing my arms.

The girl looked at him. "You should stay with us. With more of us there's a better chance of survival." She reasoned.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Fine, but only because I don't want Princess over here dying because of this idiot." He said, gesturing to Jason.

Jason glared at him, but didn't say anything, probably realizing that fighting wouldn't solve anything.

I glared at Percy. "For the last time, stop calling me that."

Percy grinned. "What are you gonna do about it, Princess? Do some cheerleader moves or something?" He asked.

I smirked. "How about I kick you in the nuts?"

Percy stared at me with newfound respect. "Well said."

The girl looked outside the window of the shed. "We have to go soon or the zombies will find us in here."

I turned to her, my arms crossed, arching an eyebrow. "I'm sorry. And _who _are you?" I asked, looking at her.

The girl took a step back, but then recomposed herself. "Of course you don't know me." She muttered. "I've only been in all your classes since fourth grade." She looked up at me. "I'm Piper."

"I'm Annabeth." I answered, turning and beginning to sort through the sports supplies. I found two baseball bats and tossed one to Percy, who caught it easily. "We'll need these to defend ourselves." I said, looking at Percy, who held his bat tightly. "Got it. We need a car to escape though."

I sighed. "Silena and I were going to drive off using her car, but…" I trailed off.

"I've got a car." Piper offered.

Percy rubbed his hands together. "Great. Where is it?"

"Well, the keys are in my purse, which is in my locker." Piper admitted, looking at Percy, who rolled his eyes. "Of course they are. Princess, you got any plans coming to mind?" He asked, turning to me.

I rolled my eyes. "We could take the side entrance back inside the school. Use the bats to protect ourselves from them." I suggested, glancing at Jason, who nodded. "Sounds okay with me." He said, smiling at me.

Percy gestured to the door. "Lead the way, Princess."

I resisted the urge to punch him in his stupid face as I slowly pulled the door open and slipped outside. Zombies were shuffling all around us, some busy eating body parts, others staggering around to find a new target.

I gestured for the others to follow me as I ducked and quietly crawled through the grass, not really caring about getting my outfit dirty at this point.

I was almost at the side entrance when I heard a loud _snap_ behind me. I whirled around to see Piper frozen, having stepped on a twig.

Immediately all the zombies in the area whirled to look in our direction, quickly spotting us. "_Fuck_!" Percy muttered under his breath behind me.

The zombies crawled, shuffled, and staggered towards us, hands outstretched, growling, groaning, and moaning angrily. One zombie reared back his head and roared a large growl to alert the other zombies.

Percy and I both looked at eachother. "Run!" We yelled, bolting for the side entrance, Piper behind us. Jason outran us, making it to the entrance before Percy and I. He held it his hand to pull us in. I grabbed it, using his strength to pull me inside the school quickly.

Percy ran past his hand, ignoring it. By the time Piper got close, the zombies were starting to get closer and closer. Jason held his hand out, ready to grab her.

Piper glanced back, which was a big mistake since it slowed her down. A zombie jumped out for her, grabbing onto her ankle. She screamed, crashing to the ground, struggling to get out of the zombie's clutch.

Jason pulled out a baseball bat, running over and swinging it, bashing the zombie's head to bits of bloody pieces. A zombie from the crowd roared in anger, walking slightly faster towards Jason and Piper.

Jason grabbed Piper's arm, pulling her up. They both ran over to us. Percy and I slammed the door closed, leaning against it with our backs as the zombies pounded against it on the other side. I struggled to hold the door closed.

"Did it bite you?" I demanded, looking at Piper, who shook her head. "No, Jason managed to save me before it could." She answered, glancing at Jason, who's expression remained grim.

Percy looked at Jason and Piper, a frantic, almost scared look on his face. "Please tell me one you idiots has a plan to get us out of here because I can't hold this door much longer." Percy said, slamming the door closed again, preventing a zombie from getting inside.

A plan began to form in my mind. "I've got a plan." I said, looking at Percy, who smirked. "Of course you do. Tell us, Princess."

I elaborately explained my plan. "Two of us can run upstairs, grabbing Piper's keys. The other two can follow behind, but protect the first two from zombies. Then we make our escape by the flagpole on the roof." I finished, looking at Percy, who nodded slowly, the plan making sense to him. Jason nodded too, smiling at me. Piper frowned like she didn't like my plan, but didn't say anything.

"I'll go with Piper to take the keys. Jason, and Percy, protect us." I ordered, looking at Jason, who nodded. "Sure." He said, glancing at Percy, who also nodded. "Let's do this thing." He said, gripping his bat tightly.

I turned to Piper. "Where's your locker?"

Piper gestured to the stairs. "On the second floor by the English room."

"Perfect." I turned to Percy. "Let's release the door."


	2. Down the flagpole we go

**A special thanks to my six followers, and three favorites so far! A special thanks to Marina Jackson, who reviewed. I really appreciate it and thank you so much for taking your time to review. **

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**Also, I forgot to do a disclaimer last chapter. I do not own the PJO characters, just the plot and any extra OC characters.**

Piper Pov

"Perfect." Annabeth said, turning to Percy. "Let's release the door."

I wondered how she took control of everything so easily. I'm kind of happy she did because I'm definitely _not _a leader. I prefer to let others take over and voice my opinion when it's needed.

Of course, Percy, Jason, and Annabeth were all leaders already. Jason became the leader of the jocks when he first transferred to Half Blood High. Annabeth was the leader of the cheerleaders and the "most popular" girl in the school. Percy...well he walked on his own path, but others still looked up to him.

Me? I'm not special. I'm not pretty, smart, or cool. The only thing I have going for me is that my dad's Tristan McLean, but no one knows about that except for Leo, who I haven't seen since the whole zombie outbreak thing happened.

I shook my thoughts away as I watched Percy quickly open the door, jumping back as he did. Jason joined his side, baseball bat in hand.

A zombie shuffled forward, hungry, as it outstretched its arms. Jason swung his bat, knocking the zombie to the ground.

I turned to Annabeth to show her the way to my locker, but she was already darting up the stairs. I rolled my eyes as I followed her, soon catching up. We finally reached my locker, Percy and Jason close behind us.

I quickly undid the lock and pulled open my locker door. I quickly spotted my purse and snatched it, searching through it until I found my car keys. "Found them!" I exclaimed, raising them in the air.

Annabeth looked at Percy and Jason, who walked over to us, parts of zombies lying on the ground behind them. "Now we can get to the roof and use the flagpole to get down to her car."

A sneeze made us all go silent. We all looked at eachother, confused. "Who was that?" Jason asked, looking down the hallway.

"I think it came from over there." I said, pointing to a row of lockers down the hall. One of the lockers had the lock broken off and lying at the foot of the locker.

Jason approached the locker with caution, raising his baseball bat. Percy frowned, deep in thought about something. Annabeth bit her lip, probably anxious of what could be behind that door.

Jason slowly opened the locker door, bat ready to smash if a zombie was inside.

Instead of a zombie, a young girl stumbled out of the locker falling into Jason. "Please don't kill me! I'm not a zombie!" She cried, a tear rolling down her cheek. She looked about fourteen, with a dark complexion, frizzy chocolate curls, and round, golden eyes holding fear and pain. She hugged Jason tightly.

Jason wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly. "It's going to be okay. You can come with us." Jason said in a soft, kind voice, reassuring her.

Percy crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Who decided that a kid can come with us?" He demanded, glaring at Jason.

Jason's eyes narrowed, giving Percy a dirty look. "_I _say she does." He said, glaring at Percy, daring him to argue.

Percy went quiet, but you could tell he wasn't happy.

The girl pulled away from Jason, wiping her tears on the sleeve of her shirt. I looked at her, smiling. "What's your name?" I asked in my best friendly voice.

The girl took a shaky breath in. "Hazel. Hazel Levesque." She answered, looking at all four of us. "I've been in that locker for about half an hour, waiting for those-those _zombies_ to leave me alone."

Jason smiled warmly at her. "Well, you'll be safe with us."

Hazel smiled back at him and then looked back at us. Annabeth glanced at Percy, who rolled his eyes.

"Come on, guys." I said, walking down the hallway, to the door to the roof, the others following me.

I pushed open the door and stepped outside, the sun shining down on me. The door slammed shut behind us.

"The flagpole!" Annabeth exclaimed, rushing over to the edge of the roof, somehow not scared of the great gap between the roof and the flagpole.

I joined her and looked below, causing me to stumble backwards. "Oh god, that's a high drop." I said, raising my hand to my forehead.

Jason looked at flagpole, the wind blowing in his direction. If you added a cape to him he would look like a blonde Superman.

"It's a high drop." He said, looking down. "Are you sure about this, Annabeth?" He asked, turning to Annabeth, who bit her lip, looking over the roof. She looked back at Jason and nodded.

"Who wants to go first?" Jason asked, looking at all of us.

Hazel swallowed, looking scared. Percy just frowned. Butterflies flew around my stomach, my anxiety getting the better of me.

"I'll go first." Annabeth spoke, walking over to the edge of the roof. "It's my plan anyway."

She stared at the flagpole, clenching her fists. Then she jumped, disappearing from view.

We all rushed over to the edge of the roof. Annabeth jumped off the flagpole, landing on her feet. She looked up at us and waved, staying quiet.

We all took a step back, Jason walking over to the edge of the roof. He took a deep breath and jumped, disappearing from view.

Percy, Hazel, and I all looked at eachother, not wanting to go next.

Percy sighed. "I'll go." He said, stepping over to the edge of the roof. He looked at the ground below him and then up at the flag. Then, he jumped, disappearing from view.

I turned to Hazel, who took a step back from the roof, looking nervous. "Do you want me to go?" I asked, furrowing my brow in concern.

Hazel shook her head. "No…I can do it." She inhaled a deep breath in and stepped forward with a look of determination. Then she leapt, disappearing from view.

I ran over to the edge of the roof, Percy, Annabeth, Jason, and Percy just tiny figures below me.

_BANG_

_BANG_

_BANG_

I whirled around to see the door behind me shake, threatening to give away from the pounding and banging of the zombies on the other side of it.

I frantically took a step to the edge of the roof, staring at the flag, knowing I had a chance of missing it.

Behind me, I heard a dreadful sound: the sound of a door falling over. I reeled to see five zombies stagger through the doorway, arms outstretched, snarling and growling as they grew closer to me.

I turned back to the flag, my mind in a panic. I leapt, blindly reaching for the flag, squeezing my eyes shut in fear.

My hands grasped to grab onto the metal pole as I slid down quickly. I jumped down once the ground came close, hitting the ground and laying there, my eyes wide open in fear and shock.

Percy, Annabeth, Jason, and Hazel huddled around me, all looking down at me. Annabeth opened her mouth to say something, but was rendered speechless.

Jason looked incredulous. "Piper...that was-"

"-incredibly stupid." Percy finished, raising an eyebrow as he looked at me. "Are you okay?" He asked, extending his hand out to me.

I grasped onto his hand, letting him pull me up. I quickly let go, examining my hands, which were burning from sliding down the flagpole so fast.

I looked back up at Percy. "I'm fine." I said, letting my arms fall to my sides. "Let's get to my car." I said, turning to the parking lot.

I finally spotted my car, a grey Ford Fusion, a few zombies shuffling around it.

"Aww shit." Percy said, once he saw the zombies. He turned to us. "Do any of you happen to have any weapons?" He asked, looking at us.

I shook my head. So did Jason and Hazel. We all looked at Annabeth as she pulled a pocket knife out of the waistband of her cheerleading uniform. We all stared at her. "What?" Annabeth asked when she saw us staring.

"I've got a lot of questions for you once this is over." Percy said, raising an eyebrow at Annabeth, who rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Can we just get to the car?" She asked, turning to me.

I nodded. "Okay, I'll drive, Jason, you get in the passenger seat. Annabeth, try to fight off the zombies with Percy while I get the car started. Hazel, you jump in the back." I said, taking control of the situation.

"Don't trip me Seaweed Brain." Annabeth said, shoving past Percy as she walked over to the car.

"Hey!" Percy exclaimed, following her. "_I _only get to call people nicknames!" He complained.

Annabeth smirked. "Well, I think Seaweed Brain suits you."

Percy rolled his eyes. "Whatever..._Wise Girl_." They walked over to the zombies, fists and pocket knife out.

Jason and I both smirked. "Ten dollars those two will kiss within a week." Jason said.

"I say those two will kiss within three days." I answered.

"You're on."

We crouched down as we watched Percy and Annabeth walk over to two zombies, who turned around, interested in a snack.

Annabeth stabbed one in the arm, kicking it to the ground and stabbing it again and again in the head until it stopped moving. Percy kicked a zombie in the stomach, but all it did was stumble backwards a bit. Then it roared in anger, growling angrily at Percy, who had no weapons.

The zombie fell flat on its face, Annabeth standing behind it, her pocket knife raised in the air. Percy looked reluctant as he let Annabeth pull him up.

Jason, Hazel, and I ran over, getting into the car. I jammed the key in the ignition and turned it. The car roared to life, the radio immediately turning on. Annabeth and Percy jumped into the backseat. "Drive!" Percy yelled, gasping for air.

In front of the car, zombies moved forward, arms outstretched. "Buckle your seatbelts! This is going to be a bumpy ride!" I exclaimed, hitting the gas pedal. The car rammed forward, hitting five zombies. The car soared through the air before landing again, rolling over some more zombies.

Annabeth looked behind us and turned back around again, looking a bit queasy. "Well, the zombies are gone." She said, biting her lip.

Jason grinned. "Way to go, Piper!"

I finally got onto the highway, which was nearly deserted except for the dead bodies all around us. "We need to find a place to scavenge for food." I said as we drove.

"There's a gas station coming up soon. We could snatch some food and supplies." Jason suggested.

"Can someone _please_ change the radio channel? I hate country." Percy said, reaching forward for the radio.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Is that all you really care about right now?"

Percy switched the channel on the radio, but instead of music, static buzzed through the car.

"Percy, you idiot. There's not going to be any other channels because of the apocalypse." Annabeth said, reaching forward and changing the channel back to country.

Percy slumped back in his seat, crossing his arms in annoyance. "Ugh fine. Maybe we can scavenge a CD somewhere."

Jason stared out the window, deep in thought.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked, glancing at him.

Jason sighed. "My sister. I don't even know if she's alive. She's the only family I have."

The whole car went quiet. "Thalia's my best friend. She's probably fighting through the zombies right now, showing them who's boss." Annabeth said, breaking the silence.

Hazel nodded. "Thalia always seemed like a strong person. We have to stay positive."

Jason nodded. "You're right. We're going to fight this."

I finally pulled up at a gas station. "Who wants to go inside and scavenge food?" I asked, turning around to looked at Annabeth, Percy, and Hazel.

"I'll go." Annabeth volunteered.

"I can come with." Jason offered, looking at Annabeth, who nodded.

"Try to find small food you can carry easily. Nothing that needs to be cooked or microwaved." I said.

Jason nodded. "Roger that."

They opened the doors of the car and stepped out, closing the doors. They turned and walked inside the gas station shop.

Percy took out a blue coral pendant and began turning it over, rubbing it with his thumb. Hazel rested her head against the window, closing her eyes. I rested my head on my window, trailing into deep thought.


	3. The Beatles and two thieves

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**Again, I don't own any PJO characters, just the plot and my own characters.**

Jason Pov

I opened the door to the gas station, holding it open for Annabeth, who carefully stepped inside the store, which seemed empty. I wandered around the store, ready to fight anything that lunged at me.

When we concluded there was no one or nothing else there, we got to work. "We need food and supplies." Annabeth said, rushing over to a display of granola bars and nuts.

I spotted a medical display and walked over to it, sorting through the packages. "Bandages...rubbing alcohol...peroxide...bandaids...check." I said, pulling off my backpack and unzipping it, dumping the contents on the ground. Then I shoved the medical supplies inside.

I carried the backpack over to the essential supplies section, snatching Old Spice deodorant for Percy and I, and Dove for Annabeth, Piper, and Hazel. Then I grabbed toothpaste, toothbrushes, and a small package of Kleenex tissues. I walked over to a display of lighters and matches, grabbing a lighter and a package of matches. Then, I carried the backpack over to Annabeth, who held a bunch of granola bars, and a few bottles of water. She dumped them inside the backpack, which was now full. I struggled to zip it closed, but finally managed, swinging it around my back.

Annabeth looked at me. "I think we have enough. We should get back to the others." She said, turning for the door.

Something else caught my eye. "One second." I said, walking over to a display of CD's. My fingers trailed over them until I pulled out a dusty Beatles CD. "Just to have some music besides country." I said, turning back to Annabeth, who raised an eyebrow. "You didn't strike me as a guy that would listen to the Beatles." Annabeth said, looking surprised.

I shrugged. "Well, you didn't strike me as a girl who would carry a pocket knife either." I answered, walking over to the door.

Annabeth didn't answer, following me outside. I jogged over to the car, knocking on Piper's window. Piper flinched, but then relaxed once she realized it was me. With a click, the doors unlocked and I opened the passenger door, stepping inside, dropping the backpack at my feet.

"What'd you find?" Piper asked, craning her neck to see what I was holding.

I showed her the CD, causing her to smile. "The Beatles?" She asked through her smile. It made me happy to see her smile, especially since I'd been the one to make her smile.

In the backseat, Hazel was fast asleep. Percy quickly shoved something in his pocket once Annabeth joined him in the backseat. "Well, I'll be darned. You actually made it without being killed." Percy said as she sat down next to him, shutting the car door as she did. She just rolled her eyes and ignored him. "We should get going." She said, looking at Piper, who nodded and started the car. The car pulled out of the gas station and we were soon on the road again.

Country music sounded through the car. "I hate this music." Percy grumbled, crossing his arms.

I smiled, opening the CD case and taking out the Beatles CD. "I had a feeling you'd say that." I said, pushing the CD into the CD player. After a few seconds of silence, Love Me Do came on in a quiet buzz. I adjusted the sound until it was loud enough for us to hear, but not too loud so we wouldn't wake up Hazel, who was still fast asleep.

Percy grinned. "The Beatles? You managed to find the Beatles?" He asked, tapping his foot in rhythm to the music.

Annabeth snorted. "You're telling me that _you_ like the Beatles?" She asked, incredulous.

Percy nodded. "My mom and I used to listen to the Beatles together when I was little. We would both sing along and just have fun, not worrying about anything else." He answered in a carefree, happy voice I'd never heard before.

"You? Singing?" Annabeth asked, raising her eyebrows.

Percy smirked. "You interested in me, Princess?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

Her face flushed a light red. "No! I was just wondering." She said quickly, turning to look out the window.

Piper and I shared a smile before she focused on driving again. I unzipped my backpack and pulled out a water bottle. "Anyone want water?" I asked, glancing to the backseat. Annabeth and Perch both nodded, reaching out as I tossed them each a water bottle. I glanced at Hazel, who was still sleeping, before looking at Piper. "Water bottle?" I asked, extending one out to her.

Piper shook her head. "I'm good thanks."

I nodded and grabbed a water bottle of my own, twisting the cap off and taking a sip. The cold, refreshing water rushed down my throat, which made me feel refreshed and content.

"Need help?" Annabeth asked behind me.

Percy glared at her. "I can open my own water bottle." He said, looking at his water bottle, twisting the cap with all his might.

Annabeth smirked. "Whatever you say."

Percy tried in vain to twist his cap open for a few more seconds, but relunctanlty passed the bottle to Annabeth with an annoyed huff. "Like you could open it." He said as Annabeth took the water bottle. She twisted the cap with ease, handing the now open water bottle to him, the cap in her other hand.

Percy stared in bewilderment for a few seconds before taking the water bottle and taking a swig.

"I'm surprised the roads are so empty." I said, looking out the window. "Well, besides the zombies."

"I think everyone was either bitten or moved west." Annabeth said, drinking from her water bottle. "There's no point in staying here, right?"

Percy sighed. "I guess. And the ones who _are _staying here are in hiding."

I spotted two boys a little away from us standing along the side of the road. "Hey, we should help them!" I exclaimed, looking at Piper.

"God dammit don't you dare pull this car over Piper." Percy said, glaring at me. "We don't even know those two guys. They could be killers or thieves."

"Percy's right." Annabeth said, which caused Percy to give her a surprised look. She arched an eyebrow. "What? I'm not going to let two guys steal all of our stuff." She said defensively as she crossed her arms.

The car began to slow down. "I'm pulling over. They could be helpless teens just like us." Piper said, smiling at me.

Annabeth frowned and turned to look out the window. Percy slumped back in his seat, crossing his arms with narrowed eyes.

Soon the car pulled came to a complete stop, pulling over next to the two boys. They were twins, both tall and skinny with curly brown hair, brown eyes, and matching mischievous smirks. One gave us a smile. "I'm Connor and this is Travis. You wouldn't happen to have room for us, would you? We just want to survive in this god forsaken world." He said, looking up at me.

I looked at Piper, who slowly nodded. "Make room in the back, guys." She said, turning and giving Percy a dirty look. Percy reluctantly moved over to make room, grumbling all the while, waking up Hazel as he did. "Huh? What's going on?" She asked, looking around wildly.

"Piper and Jason had their genius idea to let two strangers ride with us." Annabeth muttered, moving over to make room for the two twin boys, who happily jumped inside the car, closing the door behind them.

Piper smiled. "Everyone ready?"

Travis and Connor smirked at each other. Then, they each pulled out a pistol, one holding theirs to Annabeth's head, the other to Percy's head. Percy struggled to punch his captor in the face in vain. Annabeth tried to kick hers without avail.

"Give is all your supplies." The one holding Annabeth said, his amber eyes twinkling mischievously.

"And the car." The other holding Percy added with a grin.

Soon we all stood outside, watching the two boys drive away with our stuff.

Percy stomped his foot angrily, glaring at me. "Fuck! Fuck you and your fucking "good deeds" and whatnot. _Helpless teen boys_, my ass." He yelled, poking my chest.

"Percy, Jason was just trying to help. He didn't mean-" Piper said, trying to soothe Percy, who looked ready to kill me.

"_Stop_. Just shut your goddamn mouth before you spew any more nonsense ideas." Percy said angrily, whirling around to face her. "We don't have a car, food, water, or a place to stay and this place is crawling with zombies! I'm done. Have fun surviving without me you two dumb asses." He growled, turning to leave.

He glanced at Annabeth, who's eyes grew wide. "Percy, please…" She said, extending her hand out to him.

Percy's eyes trailed down to look at it, his jaw clenching. Then his expression hardened as he turned and walked past her, disappearing through the trees.

Annabeth watched him leave, her eyes shining with tears. Piper took a step forward, placing her hand on Annabeth's shoulder.

Annabeth whirled around, her stormy grey eyes murderous, fists clenched. "_Don't _you dare try to comfort me after this. This is all _your _fault and you know it." She said, her voice sharp, cutting through like a knife.

Piper looked stunned, tears coming to her eyes. Annabeth glared at her for a few seconds before storming off into the forest.

I sank into the ground, resting my head in my hands, knowing I caused all this. "This is all my fault." I said softly.

Piper still stood, watching where Percy and Annabeth had disappeared. "They're gone…" She whispered, a tear trailing down her cheek.

Hazel came over and sat next to me, resting her hand on my shoulder. "We need to give them a few minutes. They'll be back." She said, giving me a reassuring smile.

I gave her a small smile back, swinging my arm around her and pulling her close. "I hope they do. For their sake I hope they do." I whispered, staring at the forest.


	4. Malt Shoppe Memories

I love the support so far. Thanks so much! If you have any suggestions for a plot or any characters please either PM me or write them in your review.

A special thanks to Rings of Revenge and Marina Jackson for reviewing. Also, a special thanks to percabeth4evaeva for being my beta reader. Thanks to everyone who favorited, or followed, my story. I love that you guys love my story!

Again, I don't own any PJO characters, just the plot and my own characters.

Percy Pov

I stormed off angrily, my vision red with rage. I batted a branch away from my face with my hand as I walked, not know where the hell I was going.

I _knew_ this was going to happen. Being nice _never_ works and Jason just proved that.

My legs began to tire, my walking become slower and slower until I stopped and collapsed on the ground, laying down in exhaustion.

I closed my eyes, wishing the world to end right there. I didn't have anyone left to care for. I had no idea where my mom was. My dad went missing when I was born. With nobody to love or fight for there was no point in living.

Silence surrounded me for a few minutes. Then I heard a low growl next to my ear.

My eyes flew open to see a zombie standing next to me, it's flesh rotting off of its body.

I screamed, scrambling to get away from the zombie, who grinned hungrily as shuffled towards, arms outstretched.

I searched frantically for anything that would serve as a weapon and spotted a fallen tree branch. I dove for it, raising it up and brandishing it as a weapon against the zombie, who kept shuffling forward, reaching its next meal.

I swung the branch, lopping the zombie's arm off, which went flying through the forest. The zombie stumbled backwards, looking down at its now missing arm. It reared back its head and roared in anger, it's pace quickening as it walked forward.

I threw the branch at the zombie, hitting out straight on its head, which fell off, rolling on the ground. The zombie fell to its knees, ultimately falling flat on its face.

"Percy!"

I whirled around to see Annabeth enter through, her eyes widening as she saw the remains of the zombie. "Oh my god are you okay?" She asked, rushing towards me.

I nodded, rubbing the back of my neck awkwardly. "Look-I'm sorry about what happened earlier. I might've-"

Annabeth slapped me. Hard. I stumbled backwards, lifting my hand to my cheek, which burned in sharp pain. "Don't you _ever _run off like that again Perseus Jackson." She said, her eyes narrowed at me.

I rubbed my cheek. "All right, all right. I'm sorry." I said, sighing and looking at Annabeth, who just rolled her eyes, her arms crossed. "Come on, let's get back to the others." Annabeth said, turning on her heel and walking away.

I watched her golden blonde curls bounce in an almost cute way as she walked. I sighed and followed through the forest.

When we got to the road, Jason jumped up, looking almost nervous. Piper gave me an apologetic smile. Hazel smiled, like she knew I would come back the whole time.

I ran my hand through my messy hair. "So, yeah. I'm back." I said, looking at everyone.

"I'm sorry about what happened." Jason said, looking at me, his brilliant blue eyes drilling through me. "I was naive, not thinking, gullible, and-"

"Don't worry about it, man." I said, interrupting him. "I overreacted too. You were just being nice and they took advantage of you." I said, smiling at him. "I'm glad there's at least one nice person left on this earth."

Jason grinned. "So we're good?"

"We're good."

"Well, we should get going and find a place to spend the night." Annabeth said, turning and walking along the road.

We followed her and began our long walk to find shelter. It felt like we'd been walking forever with a few rest stops, but no water or food to speak of.

Finally, we got to what looked like an old malt shop. It was painted dusty blue and pink, with "Malt Shop Memories" in a bold white.

I glanced at Jason, who shrugged. "Maybe they have food and drinks still." He said, walking over to the front door and pushing it open.

We followed him inside the dark, empty shop. The lightbulbs were all over the floor, cracked and broken. "Well, there's no lights, but there might be food." I said, walking behind the counter.

I opened the bottom cabinet to find the ingredients essential for making malts and ice cream: cherries, bananas, chocolate syrup, strawberry syrup, and vanilla syrup.

"Hey, I found burgers, hot dogs, and ice cream!" Piper exclaimed, opening up the freezer.

"And I found milk, water, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, and pickles!" Annabeth said, opening up the fridge.

Hazel opened up another cabinet. "Burger and hot dog buns." She said happily.

Jason rubbed his hands together. "Okay, I have an idea, but we have to bolt all the doors and windows first." He said, grinning at all of us.

—-

I jammed a chair right underneath the doorknob, the chair leaning back, its front feet in the air.

Piper pulled down all the sliding windows in the room while Annabeth jammed a nail into the window tracks to prevent them from being opened. Then she pulled down all the shades, causing the whole shop to go almost pitch black.

Meanwhile, Jason worked on trying to get the power on. He had found a new lightbulb and was currently trying to screw it on a hanging light cord. Suddenly the light turned on, lighting the place up.

Annabeth smiled, looking around at the shop. The floors were a checkered red and white, the walls white. Her eyes caught mine as we both smiled.

Jason grinned. "Yes! Now we can make burgers, milkshakes, malts, and ice cream." He said, walking over to the freezer and taking out the burgers and hot dogs.

We soon made lots of burgers, hot dogs, ice cream, milkshakes, and malts to go around. Annabeth somehow got a radio going, so 50's malt shop music came on.

I sat in a booth by myself, drinking my chocolate milkshake through a red straw.

"Mind if I join?"

I looked up to see Annabeth carrying a strawberry milkshake, standing next to the other end of my booth. I nodded. "Sure."

She smiled and slid into the booth, setting her milkshake down on the counter. "So, what are you thinking about?" She asked, drinking from her milkshake.

I smiled at her. She looked simply perfect, her golden blonde curls resting on her shoulders, her stormy grey eyes filled with mystery and wonder. Although her blue and yellow cheerleader uniform was torn and covered in blood and dirt, she looked beautiful.

_Earth Angel, Earth Angel. Will you be mine. My darling dear, love you all the time._

She looked up at me, raising an eyebrow. "What?"

I smiled. "Nothing. You look nice." I said, drumming my finger along the edge of my seat in a nervous buzz.

Annabeth blushed, her cheeks flushing with a light red. "Thanks." She said, her fingers jumping on the table.

_I'm just a fool. A fool in love with you._

I sighed, not really know what to say. "Annabeth, isn't it cool that-"

Annabeth leaned forward, kissing me softly, interrupting my sentence. Happiness washed over me as I closed my eyes, kissing her back with all my heart.

_Ohhhhhhhh earth angel, earth angel. Please be mine. My darling dear, love you all the time._

We slowly pulled away as I stared into her sparkling grey eyes. A smile spread across her face as she took my hand, pulling me out of the booth. I followed her, both confused and aroused.

She pulled me through the shop until we got to the kitchen. She quietly closed the door, hiding us from view of Jason and Piper, who'd been watching us with matching smiles.

Annabeth turned to me, god she looked more beautiful than ever. She stepped forward, kissing me. I kissed her back passionately, my hand sliding behind her head.

We kissed, nothing else in the world mattering. We finally pulled apart, lying down on the floor, my hand on top of her golden curls. "That was-"

"-Perfect?" Annabeth asked, turning her head to look at me. "Meant to be? One hundred percent right?" She guessed, her lips tilting upwards into a smile.

I grinned. "Exactly, Princess."

Annabeth rolled her eyes and sat up, leaving me lying down. "Don't go." I said, looking up at her. "We could stay and talk, away from the others."

Annabeth sighed and shook her head, standing up and walking over to the door. "Percy, normally I'd say yes, but our world isn't normal anymore. We're in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. If we survive this, then I owe you a kiss." Annabeth said, a hint of a smile playing on her lips as she said the last part. Then she opened the door and walked away.

I followed her outside, where we were met by stares from Piper, Jason, and Hazel. "Did you guys...kiss?" Piper asked, looking hopeful.

I looked at Annabeth, whose ears were strawberry red. I felt my face grow hot. "...yeah." I answered, looking at Annabeth, who gave me a small smile.

Jason rolled his eyes and handed Piper a ten dollar bill, which Piper pocketed. "Thanks for doing business, partner." She said, squeezing Jason's shoulder as she walked away.

Jason grinned. "Back at you, partner."

He turned back to us. "We're going to sleep here for the night and then leave in the morning. There aren't really pillows or beds or anything so just find what you can." He said, looking at me.

I nodded. "Sure. We can sleep in the booths or something." I answered, glancing at the booths, which looked a bit uncomfortable, but would do for the night.

Annabeth laced her hand into mine. "We'll manage." She said, squeezing my hand, which made me grin stupidly. "Yeah…"

Jason nodded and turned, walking away. Hazel happily drank a milkshake, talking to Piper as she did.

Annabeth tugged on my hand, pulling me away. I let her pull me into a booth. She rested her head on the pillow of the booth, gazing at me with those deep, sparkling grey orbs, her lips parting in a smile. "Sleep well, Seaweed Brain." She said with a chuckle, slowly closing her eyes.

I smiled back. "Of course, Wise Girl." I closed my eyes, sleep pouring down upon me as I pictured Annabeth's face in my head, her dazzling grey eyes burning with passion like a bird singing its song of love.


	5. Chocolate milkshakes and Target

...**I have nothing to say for myself.**

Annabeth Pov

My eyes fluttered open as I yawned, stretching my arms above me. I turned my head to see Percy sleeping, his chest rising up and down. He looked so...peaceful, his hand laying on my chest protectively.

His eyes fluttered open, sea green and sparkling mischievously as usual. He broke into a smile as he sat up, lacing his fingers through mine. "Good morning, beautiful." He said, leaning in and kissing me softly on my lips.

I smiled, squeezing his hand. "Good morning, Seaweed Brain." I said, ruffling his hair as I crawled out of the booth.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Thanks." He said, crawling out after me.

I ignored him, walking over to the kitchen, where Piper, Hazel, and Jason were cooking food while talking. Percy grabbed a piece of bread and stuffed it in his mouth, somehow chewing the whole thing all at once, his mouth opening to reveal the chewed up piece of bread covered in his saliva.

I wrinkled my nose in disgust. "...ew."

Percy swallowed it with a smirk. "Okay, Miss High and Mighty. It's not like you're all prim and proper all the time."

I crossed my arms. "Well, at least I don't act like a baboon."

Percy scratched his head, lumbering over to the fridge, which he opened and grabbed a milk carton. He uncapped it and took a swig, wiping his mouth on the sleeve of his shirt.

He saw me staring and raised an eyebrow. "What?"

I rolled my eyes, turning away from him. "Nothing."

Piper and Jason were both busy packing food in plastic grocery bags. Hazel had lifted a whole package of water bottles onto the counter and was stuffing them into a plastic bag. I went over to her. "Need a hand?" I asked, grabbing a water bottle.

Hazel looked surprised at first, but then nodded with a smile. "Sure! Just make sure not to pack too much in eag bag since we have to carry them."

I nodded. "And we have to fend off zombies, so we can't be weighed down by a large load." I said, pushing the water bottle into the bag.

Percy gestured to me as he shoved another piece of bread into his mouth. "Exactly, Wise Girl." He said once he'd swallowed. He sat on the counter, just watching us.

I turned and rolled my eyes, which made Hazel smile.

"Hey Percy, would you mind actually, you know, helping?" Jason asked, looking up at Percy, who shrugged.

"Sure." He said, jumping off the counter. In doing so, he accidentally shoved Jason, who was shoved into Piper, his chocolate milkshake spilling all over Piper's red sweater and her face.

Piper sputtered, her arms raised, her whole front covered in chocolate milkshake. She glared at Jason. "Jason, I'm going to murder you."

Jason's eyes widened to saucers. "I didn't do it! Percy pushed me!" He exclaimed, pointing to Percy, who had started packing food into plastic bags, hiding his face from us. He was in a fit of silent laughter and kept trying to maintain a straight face, but failed horribly.

I sighed, walking over to Piper. "I'll get you cleaned up." I glanced back at Percy, who looked away, pretending nothing had happened. "Way to go, Seaweed Brain."

As I turned away I heard Percy laughing again, hardly able to contain himself. Then Jason punched his arm. "Ow! What was that for?"

I led Piper into the kitchen, closing the door behind us and locking it. "Percy's such an idiot." I said, looking around for something to clean Piper's sweater with.

Piper smirked. "Well, I bet you're the only reason he's not dead."

I raised my eyebrows, nodding. "Probably." I said, spotting some water. I grabbed it and turned around, facing Piper. "So there's no Oxy Clean or anything here so we're just going to have to make do with water. Take your sweater off." I said, holding out my hand for the sweater.

Piper blushed, crossing her arms. "And just stand here in my bra? No!"

I rolled my eyes. "Oh my god, Piper, I'm not asking you to strip down. Just take off the sweater." I said, growing impatient.

Piper reluctantly pulled off her sweater and handed it to me. While I dabbed some water on her sweater, trying to get the milkshake off, Piper stood, rubbing her arms awkwardly.

I tried for a few minutes before giving the sweater back to her. "I can barely make a dent in this thing. We'll just have to grab you something to wear when we find another store."

Piper pulled the sweater back on and sighed. "Would you get mad if I kill Percy?"

I smirked. "Go right ahead. Then I'll bring him back and kill him myself."

We left the kitchen to find an apologetic looking Percy waiting for us, barely keeping a straight face. "Okay, I'm really sorry Piper. I promise I'll pay for another sweater." He said, looking sincere.

Piper frowned. "But we don't have to pay for anything anymore."

Percy shrugged. "Fine, then I'll steal the sweater for you. Same thing."

Jason looked at Piper. "Are you okay?"

Piper walked past him. "Jason, it's just a sweater. Of course I'm fine."

I turned to Percy, who rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm in trouble now, aren't I?"

I leaned in and kissed his cheek. "Oh definitely."

Percy grinned and followed me to the counter, where all the bags sat. I grabbed two and walked over to the door, Percy following me with two bags in his hands. Hazel and Piper also grabbed two, but Jason somehow managed to grab four, two in each hand, all of them full of food and water.

I slowly pushed open the door, hoping there weren't too many zombies outside. Surprisingly, there were none to be found, the street barren and kind of creepy as there were blood stains and bodies lying on the road.

"It's all safe." I said, stepping outside.

The others followed me. "So I guess we just head right, huh?" Jason asked, looking at us.

"Guess so. Hope you don't get tired, Grace." Percy said as he walked forward.

Jason smirked. "Oh you wish, Jackson." He said, following him.

"Boys, boys, no need to compete at everything." I said, rolling my eyes as I glanced at Piper, who smiled.

"Hopefully we won't have to walk long." Hazel said cheerfully.

Piper Pov

Sadly, we did have to walk long.

After what felt like hours, we finally found a Target, basking in the sun in all its holy glory.

Percy let out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank god. Target's saved the day."

Annabeth pulled her knife out, looking ready to stab anyone who came close. "We need to be ready incase there's zombies inside."

"Well, I guess you're our defense, cause the rest of us don't have weapons." Percy said, glancing at the rest of us.

Annabeth bit her lip, but nodded. "Sure. I guess I'll lead then." She said, walking over to the automatic sliding doors.

Percy raised his eyebrows, looking impressed. "That girl's got spunk." He said as we followed her.

Annabeth cautiously stepped towards the doors, which immediately opened automatically, triggered by her presence. She carefully looked around before giving us a thumbs up.

We slowly followed her inside. The whole store was still lit up, but eerily silent, no movement to be seen.

"Looks like something out of a horror movie." Jason muttered, looking around.

"Dude, we _are_ in a horror movie." Percy said, kicking a cart out of his way. "Honeslty, when I said I wanted something to stop finals from coming, I didn't mean this."

"Well, on the bright side, we've could probably live here if it's safe." Hazel said as she walked down the aisles.

Suddenly a high pitched scream sounded throughout the store.

Jason, Percy, Hazel and I all looked at eachother, our eyes wide.

"_Annabeth_!" Percy yelled, his voice growing hoarse as he ran down the aisles, pushing and throwing everything blocking his way aside. Hazel ran behind him.

I followed closedly behind, Jason at my heels. When we finally reached the corner, we found Annabeth stabbing a zombie in the head with her knife over and over again, her grey eyes hardened and ruthless.

Percy tried to pull her off the zombie in vain. "Annabeth, it's okay. It's dead." He said, trying to reassure her.

Annabeth continued to stab the zombie until there was nothing left to stab. She finally collapsed, her knife falling to the floor at her side. Percy put his arms around her, whispering something softly in her ear as she panted, her grey eyes going back to normal. She turned around and hugged Percy tightly, burying her head in his chest. Percy hugged her back, still whispering something to her.

Finally they broke apart and stood up. "I'm fine." Annabeth said when she noticed the rest of us staring at her. "A zombie just jumped out at me and I got scared."

Jason opened his mouth to say something, but I quickly placed my hand on his shoulder, shutting him up. "Let's grab stuff, shall we?"

We all split up to explore the whole store. I went with Jason and Hazel while the two lovebirds went off the other way.

We finally found an employees only door. I started to look around for a lock, but Jason decided to try to ram the door down.

Of course it didn't work and Jason just ended up with a sore shoulder.

"You idiot. You thought ramming into the door like some animal would work?" I scolded him, wondering if he had a baseball for a brain.

"Well, in the movies it works." Jason said, like that was the perfect excuse.

I rolled my eyes. "Jason, this isn't a movie. In reality you can't just go ram a door and save the day."

"Well, maybe I-"

"Guys, I found the key."

We both turned to see Hazel holding a red lanyard, a small key attached to it.

"Oh thank god." I said, taking the key from her. "Look, a key. A _normal _solution to opening a door." I said to Jason, who just rolled his eyes.

I put the key through the keyhole and turned it, hearing a click as I turned it back again. "Yesssss."

I opened the door to find Leo Valdez of all people, sitting on a beanbag and watching TV, eating a bag of chips. He quickly whirled around when I opened the door, his eyes widening in surprise.

"_Piper_?"


	6. Don't disrespect the Cheetos

**Yup, I'm back with another chapter. I promise I'm going to update more often now that finals are over and I'm on summer vacation! Also, I somehow managed to do well on my finals, so that's good. Anyway, thanks for all the support so far. I love getting reviews and seeing that people love my fanfiction! If you like, please review. If you have any suggestions, feel free to PM me, I'll probably respond on the same day. **

**Enjoy!**

Piper Pov

Leo's surprised look quickly turned into one of pure joy as he jumped from his beanbag and rushed forward, tackling me a bone-crushing hug. "_Piper_!"

I hugged him back just as tightly, all my dreams answered. My best friend was back. "_Leo_!"

Leo pulled away from me, a crazy grin on his face. "I'm so happy you're not dead!" He exclaimed, holding my arms.

I grinned back. His black hair was as messy as usual, his brown eyes carrying crazy flames dancing around in joy. "I'm so happy we found you!" I exclaimed, hugging him again. He was warm and felt like home and I could've hugged him all day, but then I remembered Jason and Hazel, who stood awkwardly by the doorway.

I pulled away from him and gestured to them. "Oh, meet Jason and Hazel. They've been on the run with me, along with Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase." I said, looking back at Leo, who grinned even wider.

"_Annabeth Chase_? My dreams have come true." Leo said, winking at me.

Jason coughed. "Well, Percy beat you to her."

Leo winked at me, flexing his biceps. "Well, once she gets a look at this hot stuff, she'll change her mind." He joked, winking at me.

The joy of having my best friend back was indescribable. Imagine winning the mega millions jackpot, acing all your finals, and earning a lifetime supply of free ice cream in every flavour.

Finding Leo again was a thousand times better than that.

Leo looked at Hazel. "Hey, I remember you. You were in my art class, right?"

Hazel nodded, smiling wide. "You used to make funny drawings of Mr Manalo."

Leo grinned. "Ah, good times."

"So, you wanna join us on our crazy run?" I asked, looking hopefully at Leo.

"Is that even a question? Duh! I got so bored here. The only thing keeping me sane is the tv, which only has one channel running besides the Netflix I got hooked up." Leo said, gesturing to the TV, which currently played "FRIENDS".

Jason raises an eyebrow. "So a zombie apocalypse happens and the first thing you do is hook up Netflix and watch friends."

Leo nodded. "You got that right. Joey, Chandler, Monica, Rachel, Ross, Phoebe...they got me through this so far."

I patted his shoulder. "Well, we're grabbing stuff to stock up. Wanna join us?"

Leo looked at the tv with sadness. "Goodbye, Joey, Rachel, Ross, Chandler, Monica, and Phoebe. I'll miss you guys." He grabbed the remote and switched the TV off. Then he turned to us. "Lead the way."

We finally found Percy and Annabeth over by the food section. Percy had opened a bag of chips and was currently stuffing his face while Annabeth slowly walked down the aisle, looking for actual food.

Percy turned to look at us. "Oh look, we've recruited a new member." He said, somehow swallowing a huge amount of Cheetos.

Annabeth turned around, her eyebrows raising when she saw Leo. "Where did he come from?" She asked, looking at me, incredulous.

"Inside the employees only room. He somehow managed to drag a whole TV and beanbag in there." I said, glancing at Leo, who grinned. "You bet I did."

Annabeth just turned back to the food section. "Percy, if you're planning on surviving the whole apocalypse on Cheetos then you've got another thing coming to you."

"Hey, don't disrespect the Cheetos."

Annabeth just rolled her eyes, but a small smile crept its way up her lips. She grabbed a large pack of water bottles and lifted it, placing it into a cart. That girl was _definitely _stronger than she looked.

She took a few steps, looking at the cart, which was full of packaged food and water. "I think that's enough food." She said, turning to look at us.

"How about we explore the other sections? Maybe we could find some weapons?" Hazel asked, looking around at all of us.

Annabeth nodded. "Good point. Come on, gang." She said, turning towards the other aisles.

Percy snorted as he pushed the cart. "Come on gang? Who even says that?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "What would you say? Come on, assholes?"

Percy glared at her. "I would not say "come on assholes"."

Leo shook his head at the bickering couple as he and Hazel followed them.

I turned to follow suit, but saw Jason staring into the distance, in deep thought. "Are you coming, Jason?" I asked, taking a step towards him.

Jason smiled at me. "You're a size two, right?" He asked, his hands behind his back.

I stared at him before nodding. "Yes...what's going on?"

Jason pulled a nice white tee shirt from his back. "It seemed like it would be your size and Percy ruined your sweater, so I just grabbed this when I saw it." He said, looking at the floor and then looking back up at me.

I stared at the sweater for a few seconds. "Jason…" I couldn't believe he actually thought of me. It was so sweet of him, but predictable. That boy seemed observing.

Jason's face fell and he looked crestfallen. "You don't like it. Oh god, I'm sorry, I-"

"No, I love it! Thanks for thinking of me." I said, taking the tee shirt from him with a smile. "Oh, could you just turn away for a few seconds?" I asked, blushing at the thought of Jason seeing me with my top off.

Jason's neck grew red, his ears as red as tomatoes. "Oh, of course." He turned away, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

I turned away from him and quickly took my top off, letting the stained sweater fall to the floor. I felt my face grow hot as I quickly pulled the tee shirt on. Then I turned around to see Jason still turned around, looking straight forward.

"Ta-da." I said, raising my arms as I smiled, feeling my face grow even hotter at that stupid statement.

Jason turned and immediately smiled. "It looks nice on you." He said, stepping forward.

We were only about three inches apart.

I quickly looked away, feeling my face flush again. "They're going to wonder where we are." I said, turning away from him.

A hand gently grabbed my arm. I turned around to see Jason, giving me a kind smile that made my heart melt. "Let them wonder."

I couldn't help but let my mouth hang slightly open in surprise as Jason slipped his hand into mine, squeezing it once. "It's okay. If you don't want to-"

This time I surprised him by kissing him and closing the small gap between us. His eyes widened at first, but closed as he kissed back.

We kissed for a few moments before I heard the click of a gun behind me.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"


	7. We've got company

**Thanks for all the support! I love seeing that people followed and favorited this story! Anyway, enjoy the chapter! If you like, leave a review!**

Jason Pov

Kissing Piper made me feel like I'd gone to heaven. She surprised me at first, but I kissed back passionately. It was perfect.

Well, until we found ourselves facing two large men, both pointing guns at our heads. They were both muscular and tall, the first having longish slicked back dark chocolate brown hair and cold brown eyes hardened with hate. The second man was completely bald, with black eyes, glinting evilly. Both wore black clothing and held black pistols, pointing them at Piper and I.

Piper and I raised our hands in surrender, stepping away from each other. "Can you _not _kill us? We weren't doing anything." Piper protested, glaring at the men. She looked so fierce and determined as she stood tall, glaring at the man, ignoring the fact he could kill her with one move.

The dark haired man smirked as he firmly held his gun, fixing it on my forehead. "You're a feisty one, eh? Well, sorry girlie, but we're taking you two."

_Taking us? Taking us where? _I glanced at Piper, whose eyebrows furrowed, wondering the same thing I did.

I hoped the others were okay. Maybe I could make a diversion so Piper could escape. I probably wouldn't make it out, but Piper would be okay.

There was a loud _ding_ in the bald man's pocket. He pulled out his phone and glanced at us, his gun still trained on Piper's forehead. "It's on it's way, Bill." The bald man said, slipping his phone back in his pocket.

_What's on its way? What were these men planning to do with Piper and I?_

Bill nodded. "Good, where are Chase and Pat?" Great. There were more guys. Hopefully my friends escaped.

"Found these two down in the clothing aisle."

Two more men stepped forward, one holding Hazel, a gun to her head, and the other holding Percy, a gun to his head. Percy had a forming black eye and Hazel looked unscathed, but scared.

I felt a shimmer of hope when I realized Annabeth and Leo hadn't been caught. The two would probably make a good team: the smart strategist and the intelligent inventor. Annabeth was at the top of everything, including the social pyramid, of course, and everyone knew Leo spent his class time inventing random things. The two would be an interesting pair and could probably take over the world if they were up to it.

I raised my hands above my head. "Hey, we don't want any problems. All we wanted was some food and supplies." I said, looking around at the men. They all just looked at Bill, who laughed bitterly. "None of us wanted any problems." His smile quickly vanished as he pointed his gun at my forehead. "Enough talking. Have any of you been bit?" He asked, glancing at my friends.

I hated how helpless we were against the men. They had the power to kill my friends at any second and I couldn't do anything about it. If only I could just grab one of their guns...

Percy glared at the man, his hands reluctantly raised in the air. "_No_, we haven't been _bitten_." He snarled, letting his elbows drop a bit. _Wrong time for the attitude, Percy._

The man holding him hostage brought the gun down on Percy's head, knocking Percy to the floor. "Watch your mouth, _kid_." He spat, glaring down at Percy, who raised his hand to his head, which probably hurt a lot.

Piper made a move to help him up, but the bald man grabbed her arm, pulling her back.

I felt my blood boil as my hands formed tight fists. _No one_ grabs Piper like that. No one should grab _anyone_ like that. I was about to tackle the bald man until, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Annabeth, a mischievous look on her face as she held a long baseball bat. She saw me looking and winked before disappearing from view. She _definitely _had something planned.

Bill turned to look where I was looking and frowned. "_What_ are you staring at?" He asked, glancing at me in confusion and annoyance. He glanced at his watch again, probably waiting for whatever was supposed to take us.

I wondered why he was in such a big hurry. Where were they planning to take us?

I looked at the man and just shrugged, playing dumb. I knew Annabeth and Leo had something planned, but would it be enough to get us out of this mess?

The man glanced at his watch impatiently. "Where's the transport vehicle?" He asked no one in particular, sounding frustrated.

_Transport vehicle? _Where were these guys planning on taking us? I glanced at Percy, who seemed deep in thought, probably wondering the same thing.

Then, all the lights shut off. We all stood frozen, blinded by the darkness.

Then I heard a large crash. Then another. Bill started shouting for someone to find the light switch as I saw figures running in chaos.

"_Run as fast as you can! The handsome Leo Mcshizzle Valdez and the beautiful but deadly Annabeth Chase are coming to get you!_" A loud voice boomed over the speaker system.

I couldn't help but smile in awe. How Leo managed to do this, I had no idea.

The lights started flickering as I watched a man fall over unconscious, Annabeth standing behind him, baseball bat in hand.

Percy helped her by tying the men up with rope along with Hazel, pausing to wince and rub his head where the gun had hit him every few minutes.

Piper grabbed a bag of candy off one of the shelves and threw it at one of the man, hitting him right on the head. It didn't do anything, but it sure got his attention.

He started to run after her, but I tackled him to the floor, hoping to grab his gun, which was a little away from us. I tried to wrestle him off of me as I reached, almost touching the gun.

I jumped forward and grabbed hold of the gun, quickly whirling around just in time for the man to elbow me in the face.

The gun fell out of my hands as I raised my hands to my face, feeling blood starting to slowly run out of my nose, worming it's way down to my chin.

Too late, I remembered the gun and reached for it, but the man got to it first. He stood up and trained it on me, raising his other hand to his bloody lip.

I tried to stand up, but fell back down in a panic. I tried to scoot away, but felt the hard wall behind me.

The man just laughed, probably at the pathetic sight of me. "Nice try, kid. Some of us just aren't meant to survive." He smirked as he lowered the gun to my chest. "Have fun, kid."

A _bang_ echoed around my ears as smoke emitted from the man's gun. My eyes widened as I looked down, seeing blood sprout from my chest, drenching my white shirt.

There was no pain for a moment, just shock as I gingerly touched the wound, raising my hand back up to see it covered in blood.

I looked back up to see the man lying face-down on the floor, one large kitchen knife sticking out of his skull.

Piper rushed over to me, a far tear rolling down her cheek. "_Jason_!" She cried, not coming close as if afraid she would make things worse.

I gave her a lopsided smile, raising my eyebrows. "Hey, Piper."

"Well, looks like we got the last-" Leo's eyes widened to the size of saucers when he saw me.

Percy shook his head in disbelief. "No, no, this can't be happening."

Hazel gave me a sad look as she stared at my wound.

Annabeth bit her lip, but quickly shook her head. "We need to apply pressure to the wound. _Now_." She said, giving Piper a hard look.

Piper looked at her in fear. "Pressure?" She asked, blinking as if the word was foreign to her.

Percy moved forward, pushing Piper out of the way. He reached forward and quickly pushed his hands onto the wound.

I gasped in pain, clenching my jaw. "Oh god, oh _god_!" I rambled, hardly able to bear the pain.

Percy looked up at me. "Swear. It kind of helps."

"Oh _fuck! Fuck fuck fuck! This fucking hurts!_" I screamed, not really feeling any better. "This isn't working! Your advice sucks!" I exclaimed, looking down at Percy.

"Gauze, I need gauze. Leo, go find some tape." Annabeth ordered, bolting for the medical aisle.

Piper and Hazel ran after her and Leo ran the other way, leaving me alone with Percy.

"Okay, think happy thoughts." Percy said, trying to help me. "What was your _favorite _thing to do before all this happened?"

I immediately smiled, thinking about my sister, Thalia. "Thalia and I used to go to the carnival together every year. We would pool together our money and buy all the tickets we could. Then we would just spend the night going on every single ride and running everywhere. Then to finish off the night we would climb on top of the Ferris Wheel, after the carnival was over, obviously, and just have cotton candy and talk. Thalia said if I ever fell off she would jump after me and catch me no matter what. That was coming from a girl who's afraid of heights."

I paused, remembering that Thalia was off all alone somewhere, fighting against the zombies. Maybe she was dying right now, all alone with no one to comfort her.

"She's okay." Percy said, giving me a small smile.

I frowned. "How did you-"

"Believe me, I've thought the same about my family. My mom's out there somewhere with my stepdad, Paul." Percy looked sad and lonely and I could tell he really missed his mom, his smile fading.

"Usually I'm pessimistic about these things, but Hazel told me we have to be optimistic about these things. That's the only way to keep going." Percy said, taking a deep breath in. "Everything's gonna be okay. It's gotta be." He said, looking up at me, his sea green eyes swirling calmly.

Annabeth ran towards us, bandages in her hands, Piper and Hazel following behind. Leo quickly ran in from the other way, a roll of duct tape in his hand.

Annabeth ran over to me, kneeling down next to Percy, whose hands still held pressure on my wound. "Okay, Percy, you can take your hands off."

Percy nodded and pulled his hands away, quickly jumping back so Annabeth could get to work.

Annabeth took the gauze and covered the wound carefully, the blood immediately seeping through a bit. The bleeding had gone down a bit, so that was good.

"Leo, tape." Annabeth said, holding out her hand to take the tape while she held down the gauze.

Leo tossed the tape to her. Annabeth rolled her eyes and tossed it back to him. "Cut me a piece, dumbass. I've got my other hand busy."

Piper quickly grabbed scissors off of a shelf and tossed them to Leo, who fumbled with them before grabbing hold of them. He quickly pulled some tape off of the roll and cut it as fast as he could. Then he ran over to Annabeth, who took it and taped down half of the gauze to my chest.

"More, I need more." Annabeth said, waving her hand in the air.

Leo quickly cut more tape and handed it to Annabeth, who taped the gauze all the way down. She let out a deep breath and she looked at the gauze, which held strong. "We did it." She said, looking up at me. "You're going to be okay."

I took a deep breath in, feeling slightly better. "Could-could you help me up?" I asked, looking at Annabeth and Percy.

Annabeth grabbed my right arm while Percy grabbed my left hand. Annabeth counted to three before they both hoisted me up.

I almost fell back down because my legs shook so much. I didn't realize how scared I'd been till now. Even my hands were shaking.

Piper stepped forward and took my hands. "I'm so glad you're okay." She said, smiling at me.

I gave her a lopsided grin back. "So am I."

"I think it's time we leave." Annabeth said. "Night's falling and this place isn't safe, especially if a transfer vehicle is coming."

"I can hotwire a car." Leo offered, raising his hand.

Of course he could.

"Great. Let's get going then." Then she turned and looked at me. "Are you okay to walk?"

I nodded. Although I was shaky and really in need of rest, I'd be okay to walk a bit.

"Good. There should be a few cars in the parking lot." Annabeth said, turning and walking towards the front exit.

As we followed her, Piper kept her hand in mine, squeezing my hand tightly.

I squeezed hers back, relieved I was the only one who'd been hurt. This night could've been much worse.


	8. A shit load of zombies, as usual

**A special thanks to all of you who followed, favorited, and reviewed, continuing to support me. I love you guys.**

**If you like, leave a review.**

Percy Pov

When Leo got busy hotwiring the car, the rest of us stood outside the car, careful to look around at our surroundings, the sky now growing darker as the sun set.

Jason leaned against the car, his face dripping with sweat after going through that horrible ordeal. He clutched the right side of his chest where the wound was and moaned in pain, slightly leaning over to the right.

Piper placed her hand on his shoulder, her expression becoming one of concern as her brow furrowed. "Are you okay, Jason?" She asked, her voice heavy with concern and fright.

He nodded and gave her a quick smile, although he looked in pain. "Yep. I'm good." He said, still clutching his side. I could tell he was lying. Piper didn't look like she bought his lie either.

Annabeth bit her lip. "I'm _so _sorry, Jason." She sank into the ground, leaning against the car. "God, this is all _my_ fault. My plan was flawed and I was so _stupid _to think it could've been perfect." She said, running her hand through her hair and flipping it to the side.

Jason's mouth fell open, a completely confused and bizarre look on his face. "Are you kidding me? Annabeth, your plan _saved _us. If it weren't for you and Leo..." He trailed off, since we all knew what would've happened if Annabeth and Leo hadn't hidden away.

We would be on some transport vehicle, probably on our way to die.

Annabeth took a deep breath and stood up straight, composing herself. "You're right." She said, looking at Jason. "I just-" She faltered as she stared behind Jason, her eyes widening. "Not to worry anyone, but there's a shit load of zombies coming towards us." She said, pointing behind Jason.

We all turned to see a large group of zombies shuffling towards us, growling hungrily. There looked to be about twenty or so, all growling as they shuffled towards us.

"_Fuck._" I growled, turning towards Leo, who was still trying to hotwire the car. "Leo, you'd better be close to done with hotwiring the car!" I yelled, glancing back at the large group of zombies, which moved closer and closer to us.

Leo cursed from inside the car. "Can you hold them off?" He yelled, not looking up from his work.

"We're gonna have to." Annabeth said, pulling out her pocketknife. I was surprised she still hadn't lost it on the long journey, but then again, this was Annabeth. I'd lost mine a long time ago, at during the run from the sports shed to inside the school.

"Jason, get in the car!" Piper yelled, opening the passenger door.

Jason shook his head. "No, I-I can fight." He said, stumbling forward as he tried to stand up straight.

Hazel shook her head. "Jason, you've been shot. There's no way you're fighting." She said softly, giving Jason a small smile to calm him down.

Jason tried to glare at her, but winced as he held his side. "No...I have to…I won't let you-"

Annabeth whirled around to face Jason, her grey eyes piercing like daggers. "Jason, get in that car _now_." She ordered, giving him a fierce glare.

Jason looked like he was about to protest, but then nodded weakly. "Okay." With Piper's help, he crawled into the passenger's seat and laid back, looking exhausted.

Piper slammed the door shut and looked back at us, her hair matted down to her forehead with sweat, her kaleidoscope eyes darting between all of us. "Let's kill some zombies."

I took on two zombies, hitting one on the head with my baseball bat and kicking the other down, making sure to crush its head with my baseball bat.

Hazel and Piper both took on their own, both girls standing their ground against the zombies.

Annabeth was a whirlwind, stabbing zombies left and right and kicking them down to the ground. I couldn't help but grin as she kicked ass as usual.

Leo was still trying hotwire the car, cursing under his breath as he did. I was pretty sure he'd forgotten how to hotwire a car and I half expected the car to blow up without warning.

Jason laid back in the passengers seat, half asleep, probably drifting in and out of consciousness. I felt bad for him because he wanted to help so badly, but no one crosses Annabeth, especially while she's holding a sharp pocketknife.

I heard a sickening crunch as I smashed the head of the zombie I was fighting with my baseball bat, hitting the head right on the side. The zombie fell to the floor with a thud, blood leaking out of the side of its head.

I looked up to see Hazel and Piper both attack a zombie together, smashing it on its head with their bats.

Near me, Annabeth cursed under her breath as she stabbed a zombie, nearly getting bitten in the process. "There's too many of them." She said, jumping back, dodging a zombie's lunge for her.

I joined her side, whacking a zombie's chest with my baseball bat. "Leo better be done with the car." I grumbled as I kicked another zombie down.

"Leo, how close are you to getting the car started?" Piper yelled, pulling Hazel out of the way, a zombie nearly tackling her to the ground.

"_Uhhhhh almost done!_" Leo answered from inside the car, not sounding to confident.

"Doesn't sound to sure." I muttered, kicking another zombie down. I felt exhausted, my movements becoming slower. If Annabeth and her trusty pocketknife weren't at my side, I would've been dead.

"Well, I sure hope he is. I'm not sure how much longer I can keep this up." Annabeth said, stabbing a zombie in the head and kicking it to the ground. Even _she_ was slowing down, as she barely dodged a zombie's snapping jaws and outstretched arms.

She stabbed a zombie in the gut and the zombie threw up blood all over her as it stumbled backwards, falling on its back.

Annabeth looked ready to throw up herself as she looked down at her now blood-covered outfit, the stains a disgusting reddish green. "Oh god, I think I'm going to throw up." She said, wrinkling her nose in disgust as she breathed through her mouth, unable to bear the rotten smell.

"_Get in the car! I did it, I did it!_" Leo yelled, jumping out of the car and doing some stupid dance that consisted of him jumping up and down and karate-chopping the air like a ninja on crack.

I threw my baseball bat at the zombie I was fighting, nailing it on the head. The zombie fell to the ground, but let out a terrifying shriek, letting me know it wasn't dead, or more dead than it already was.

I glanced at Hazel and Piper, who were already running at full speed towards the car, five zombies chasing after them.

"Annabeth-" I turned to see her also running towards the car, tucking her pocketknife in the waistband of her ripped cheerleading uniform.

I turned around to see ten zombies growling hungrily, their arms outstretched to grab me. "Well, as fun as your offer seems, I think I'm going to join my friends." I said before quickly bolting towards the car as fast as I could, hearing the growls of the zombies growing louder behind me as they walked fast, trying to catch up to me.

Sadly, I wasn't exactly the worlds fastest runner. Heck, even out of the group, Annabeth and Jason were way faster than me. Thankfully, I knew how to outrun people after all the street fights I've gotten into.

My feet pounded against the ground as I ran in zigzags, knowing the zombies were too stupid to understand what was going on. I ran long lines, changing directions every few seconds. The zombies kept shuffling in different directions, some running into eachother.

I used my last energy to beeline towards the car, keeping my focus on the open car door and Annabeth, her hand outstretched to me.

I reached out my hand and grabbed Annabeth's and Annabeth pulled me into the car, quickly shutting the door behind me. There was an angry yell as all the zombies began running for the car, getting over their confusion.

"_Drive!_" Piper screamed, banging on the car window.

Leo obeyed, jamming his foot on the gas pedal, the car squeaking loudly as the it jolted forward at full speed towards the road. Leo spun the driving wheel to the right and the car swerved towards the right, dirt dust from the ground quickly rising behind us.

"_Yeah!_" Leo cheered, pumping his fist into the air as he lessened his weight on the gas pedal, the car slowing down a bit.

Annabeth glanced behind us, looking through the window. "Guys, we have company." She said, pointing to a large black van following closely behind us.

"Can't we get a break?" Piper whined, glancing behind at the van.

Leo cursed and jammed his foot on the gas pedal again, the car pouring full speed. Annabeth gripped the seat in front of her tightly, her knuckles turning white.

I placed my hand on top of hers, hoping to calm her down. I figured she got carsick in super fast cars. Annabeth felt my hand glanced up at me, her expression softening.

There was a loud bang as the window behind us cracked, a bullet lodged in the glass. One of the people in the car had their arm sticking out of the window, a pistol in their hand.

Jason jolted awake, sitting up straight and looking around wildly. "Huh? What's happening?"

Annabeth ignored him, leaning forward in her seat. "Leo, they're shooting at us!" She exclaimed, glancing behind her at the hand holding the gun.

"Dammit." Leo said, glancing at the mirror on the side of the car. "Everyone hold on!" He ordered, gripping the wheel tightly.

I grabbed the handle on the ceiling of the car with one hand and Annaberh's hand with my other, holding both tightly as everyone else grabbed on to something. Jason still looked confused, but grabbed onto the handle on the ceiling of the car.

Leo spun the wheel and the car swerved to the left, barely holding its ground. Annabeth gripped my hand so tightly I thought it was broken, her eyes wide with fear.

The car spun out of control and flipped over, crashing to the ground as we all crashing onto the ceiling, the car flipping over in the air. Everyone screamed and Annabeth slammed into my arms as I slammed into the car door, my head crashing onto the window behind me. I felt pain sprout from the back of my head. My hearing shut off like I just put earplugs in, the whole world becoming a loud ringing which echoed throughout my ears.

Piper fell forward, her head crashing onto the seat in front of her. Then she fell all the way back, crumpling into the seat. She was struggling to open the door to escape, but the door wouldn't budge.

Jason was launched forward, his body crashing into the already broken windshield and rolling out of the car and onto the ground. He slid on his face before coming to a slow stop.

Leo experienced a similar experience as his head bashed into the windshield, his body thrown out of the car and onto the ground.

Hazel, being the only one smart enough to wear a seatbelt was launched forward but quickly pulled back, her seatbelt tightening. She was struggling to get her seatbelt off to escape, but was stuck.

The car kept bouncing and flipping over, crashing onto the ground again and again. I held Annabeth close, hoping to shield her from any damage as I screamed, the car crashing onto the ground once more.

The car shuddered as it stood still, finally done bouncing through the air. I tried to sit up but my legs were stuck under something. My head was spinning, my vision blurry and I couldn't hear anything. My vision began to darken and grow fuzzy. I fought to stay conscious, but I couldn't move. I let my head fall back onto the car door as I blacked out, the world around me completely silent and weirdly peaceful.


	9. Taken

**Oh my god, guys, I am so so so sorry for not updating since July. I lost my inspiration for a bit and got sidetracked by different fanfics. I'm back though! With better chapters I hope…**

Annabeth Pov

The last thing I remembered was the crash.

Everything had seemed to slow down. I'd been forcefully shoved into Percy's arms—not that I minded—as the car flipped over, glass flying everywhere, cutting up my arms and tearing up my face.

Then everything stopped and went silent as the car stayed on its back, done rolling down the hill.

I tried to open my eyes, but the world danced around me, spinning circles and making me dizzy.

I closed my eyes again and groaned, my head beginning to ache.

"Percy." I croaked, keeping my eyes closed as I tried to move my arms and legs.

They failed me, leaving me lying in the flattened and destroyed car in Percy's arms.

I _thought _I had a plan. I always had a plan.

Except this time it didn't work.

And it was all my fault.

—

Hands pulled me out of the wreckage, dragging me away from Percy and his warm embrace.

I wanted to scream, to struggle, but all my power was gone, the fire in me snuffed out like a light.

Someone else began to carry me in their arms, arms covered in some sort of fabric. Denim?

"Take them to the cells, boys." I heard a raspy voice yelled out from a little away. A raspy voice that belonged to a certain dark haired ball of rage that was probably addicted to smoking cigarettes.

_Bill_.

I tried to struggle, escape, but my body failed me again.

_What was wrong with me?_

I let out a groan of exhaustion as I tried to open my eyes, hoping at least my friends were okay.

I made out a blurred image of a bloody Jason being gently carried by someone—someone that looked about my age.

"_Shove them in the van._" Bill ordered, his tone sounding angry for some reason, before he stomped away.

I was launched in the air for two seconds before hitting the hard wall of the van. My head knocked against something even harder, making my whole head pound.

_Make it stop!_

Someone else was thrown onto me, their limbs slamming against mine, accidentally elbowing my stomach.

I groaned as another one of my body parts began to ache with pain.

_I have...to stay...awake…_

My brain turned foggy, forcing me into sleep.

_Stay...awake…_

I tried to fight it, but in the end, my body betrayed me once again, shutting me off.

_Stay…_

_...Awake._

—

Bright lights danced in front of me, blinding me as I tried to open my eyes, wondering where I was.

When I opened my eyes again the light was still blinding.

_Either Jesus decided to pay me a visit or this was part of my concussion._

Hopefully it was the latter. I really didn't feel like explaining to Jesus all the times I'd skipped school and went shopping, or the time I tripped my school rival, Rachel Dare, in the lunchroom and "accidentally" spilled my milk all over her new shirt.

Oh, don't judge me like that. It's not like _she's _innocent.

I tried to focus on the room around me. My vision was blurry and my head hurt. A lot.

"Can you hear me, Annabeth?" A soft, almost muffled voice called from nearby.

Hazel?

I squinted at the scene in front of me, trying to get my eyes to focus.

Hazel was kneeled in front of me, her eyebrows scrunched up in concern for me.

"Annabeth? It's me, Hazel." Hazel repeated, her voice seeming to bounce off my ears. I was only sure of what she had said because I read her lips. My ears were..._blocked_. What was going on?

"_Hazel?_" I croaked, raising my hand in front of my face to shield me from the bright light.

Hazel beamed at me for a second, like me waking up was the best thing that had ever happened to her.

We were in some sort of a cell. The walls were all white...as was the door. Two white bunk beds stood on my left, both of which looked uncomfortable and small.

_Where were the others?_

I ran my hand through my curls, feeling like I just got hit by a car.

Well...technically I had...except I'd been _in _the car. As it flipped over down the hill and crashed, almost killing me.

"Hazel, what _happened?_ Where _are _we?" I asked, using Hazel for support as I tried to get to my feet.

Note the word _tried_.

My legs shook and almost gave away, but Hazel caught me before I could face plant onto the floor, which was good.

Hazel shook her head, a look of uncertainty flashing across her face. "I don't know. It's only me, you, and _her_." She whispered, gesturing over to a sleeping girl to our right.

The girl was of Hispanic descent and had long black hair in a messy braid and a permanent determined expression on her face as she slept. She looked ready to fight, to survive.

That's how the world worked in the age of the apocalypse.

I turned back to Hazel and grasped her shoulders, hoping she remembered _anything _useful.

We had to escape this place.

"Hazel, if you remember anything significant _after_ the car crashed, tell me right now because we have to work together to escape this place." I demanded, shaking Hazel a bit out of anxiousness.

She gulped, looking up at the ceiling and hopefully into her memories. "Well, I remember waking up in a van." Hazel started, glancing at me with uncertainty.

A van…

_I was launched in the air for two seconds before hitting the hard wall of the van. My head knocked against something even harder, making my whole head pound._

"Sounds about right." I agreed, the memories slowing coming back to me. "Anything else?"

_Please remember more, please remember more…_

Hazel frowned, deep in thought. "I overheard the guy from earlier...Bill. He said something about getting information?" Her gold eyes met mine, matching my own confused grey ones. "And then he mentioned you...and your mom."

She scrunched her face up, trying to remember more. "I'm sorry, Annabeth. I can't remember anything else." She finally finished, looking up at me as she let out a deep breath.

I shook my head, pondering on the fact that Bill mentioned my mom and I. Why me? Why my mom? I mean, happened to be mayor, but she wasn't _that _important, was she?

"So they finally caught some more prisoners." A hard voice said from the right.

Hazel and I both turned to see our other inmate, the girl that had been sleeping from before. She was beautiful in a striking way that caught me off guard...because she reminded me of myself.

Those black eyes held determination and ambition.

Determination and ambition that landed me into trouble many times.

Those eyes scared me, because the person with them was unpredictable, like a ticking bomb.

I reached for my pocket knife, which was usually tucked at my waist, but it was gone. Taken along with my other things. Thankfully I was still wearing my normal clothes—as bloody as torn as they were.

That would've implied something too embarrassing and scary to think about.

At the realization that my weapon was gone, I settled with glaring at the girl, ready for a fight if one erupted. "Who are you?" I demanded, glaring down at the girl, who just frowned, holding up her guard.

"I could ask the same about you." The girl replied, narrowing her eyebrows at me. Then she shook her head, turning away from Hazel and I. "It doesn't matter anyway; you'll be taken soon enough just like my sister was."

I glanced at Hazel, who looked as confused as I felt.

_Taken?_

I took a step towards the girl, who'd went quiet at the mention of her sister. "Taken?" I asked, hoping the girl knew something: why, by who, or where.

The girl gave me none of those. Instead she slowly turned around, a grim expression on her face. "Taken." She repeated, her black eyes swirling with a deep pain of a missing loved one. "To your deaths." She finished, clenching her jaw tightly as she looked at Hazel and I, a sad look in her eyes.

The whole room went silent after that.

I swallowed, a sickening feeling spurring at the bottom of my stomach.

_To your deaths._

I had to get out of this place and save my friends.

If not, then they would all die.

And their blood would stain my hands forever.


	10. Nico Di Angelo: A Kid Asking to Die

**I'm back on my feet! If you like, leave a review! I love reading them. I love all the support so far, everyone!**

Piper Pov

A man led me down the dimly lit hallway, a gun held at my back.

I had no choice but to keep walking as the walls became more and more older looking, parts of it practically crumpling off.

I wondered where Jason was, where Leo was. I'd even take Percy or Annabeth at this point, no matter how much they intimidated me.

"Keep moving." My captor growled, shoving his gun into my back, which made me jump.

I trudged along, hoping to God I wasn't being led to my death. I'd never thought about dying before, but now the feeling made me sick. I suddenly didn't want to die.

I was scared. Scared of the unknown.

_Where was he taking me?_

Finally the man led me to a white door with a small dirty window to see inside the room.

Keeping his gun against my back, the man pulled out a set of keys and fumbled with them as he tried to find the correct one.

I craned my neck, trying to see into the room through the small window.

My heart fluttered in my chest once I recognized Leo sprawled out over a bunk bed, his face torn up and scratched and his limbs all over the place.

I hoped to God he was okay.

My captor shoved a small key into the keyhole and turned it, applying force to the door as he did.

With the gun off my back, I could've tried to run away, but I knew I'd get caught or worse, killed.

My captor grabbed my arm tightly and harshly threw me into the room, not caring that I was already weakened from the car crash.

With a slam, the door locked behind me, leaving me alone with an unconscious Leo.

I tried to crawl towards Leo, my body too weak to stand. Everything hurt _so_ bad. I felt like my bones were brittle and about to break at any moment, leaving me lying on the ground, unable to move.

I yelped as I tried to put my weight on my right arm, which quickly gave away, making me fall to the floor again.

_Shit_. It was either broken or sprained. Both weren't good in my situation.

I heard a groan from above me.

_Leo_.

I looked up to see Leo try to move his arm and stretch. He winced, bringing his arm back to his chest.

"Leo!" I exclaimed, getting up to a sitting position. I was still too weak to stand and I couldn't get up with a bad arm.

Leo turned to me, his eyes wide in shock and confusion. "Piper?" He asked, tilting his head at me, probably wondering why I was sitting on the floor. "Where are we?" He asked, looking around wildly at our cell.

I shook my head. "The car crash...we were kidnapped, Leo." I explained, looking up at Leo, who frowned.

"Kidnapped? By whom?" Leo felt his pockets and grimaced. "Great, they stole my stuff. I had hair gel in there." He griped, running his hands through his messy black hair.

I rolled my eyes at his stupidity. "_Hair gel?_ That's what you're worried about?" I sputtered, spreading my arms out in anger.

Having forgotten my hurt arm, I yelped, bringing it back to my chest. "God this _hurts_!" I growled, glaring at the ground.

Leo began pacing around, running his hands through his hair. "Oh God, Pipes. When I said I wanted to be locked into a room with a girl, I didn't mean _you_ and I didn't mean _now_!" He stammered, leaning against the wall in a panic.

I glared up at him. "That was hurtful."

"Sorry, I'm just freaking out a bit over here." Leo let out a deep breath as he sank into the ground, his head in his hands. "I wonder where the others are." He mused, lifting his head from his hands to look at me.

"I really hope they're-"

I was cut off by the door opening, slamming loudly against the wall. Two men held a boy our age by his arms as he struggled fiercely, kicking and punching his captives.

He looked vaguely familiar and I would've been able to recognize him if it weren't for the blood covering his face.

The men threw him into our room and quickly slammed the door shut behind him, locking us in with a _click_.

Leo and I both stared at the boy, who narrowed his eyes at us, a trickle of blood making its way from his nose to his chin.

"Are you with them?" He demanded, quickly getting to his feet, his hands forming tight fists. "Are you here to torture me further?"

He resembled a trapped animal—scared, with a wild look in his eyes.

Leo shook his head. "We've been kidnapped too. I'm Leo and this is Piper." He replied, nodding his head towards me.

The boy's eyes flickered between Leo and I, like he was sizing us up and deciding whether to trust us or not. Then he let his fists fall to his sides in defeat.

"I'm Nico...Nico Di Angelo." The boy said finally, letting his gaze land on me. "And I know exactly who you are, Piper _Mclean_."

Leo and I both glanced at each other. "How'd-How'd you know?" I stammered, looking up at Nico, who just rolled his eyes.

"Obvious reasons." He replied, gesturing to my necklace, my first and last name inscribed on it.

I felt my face grow hot with embarrassment. I _hated _getting attention because of my last name. Everyone was in awe over my father, Tristan Mclean, the famous actor, and Aphrodite Mclean, the famous fashion designer. Neither of them bothered to come to my parent teacher conferences and I made sure only my closest friends (Leo) knew.

I just didn't want to have friends just because of my last name. If people knew who my parents were...let's just say I'd be best friends with Annabeth or something.

At one point I wanted to be. Desperately. A part of me wondered _why_? Why couldn't I be known as the "kid with famous parents"?

I'd _wanted _to be friends with Annabeth, Drew, Silena, and their clique of cheerleaders. I wanted to be invited to parties and have boys oohing and ahhing over me every two seconds.

But those friends would've been fake.

Every single one of them.

I was jolted out of my thoughts as Leo began to pound on the door. "_Let us out of here!_" He screamed, using his body to slam into the door over and over again.

Instead he stumbled backwards, clutching his arm. "_Shit_. We're _stuck _in here." He muttered, looking over at me, tears beginning to form in his eyes.

I leaned against the wall, taking deep breaths in and out.

I didn't want to die.

I wished I was smarter, like Annabeth, so I could make a plan to get out of this place. Or stronger, like Jason, so I could break the door down.

_Jason…_

God, I hoped he was okay. Wherever he was.

He had to be.

The door slammed open once again, this time revealing _Bill_.

He looked angry, as usual. "I don't want _them_." He snarled, shoving one of his minions. "I said I wanted either the mayor and architect's daughter or that business man's jock kid."

My stomach plummeted. He meant Annabeth and Jason.

_What was he planning?_

His minion swallowed, looking scared of his boss's rage. "What about them, sir?" He asked, glancing at Leo and I.

Bill glanced over at us with a sneer. "Take 'em to the workhouse." He finally decided, his brown eyes glinting evilly. "_All _of them." He added with a growl, turning his gaze to Nico, who glared right back at him.

"Oh, _fuck_ you." Nico spat, his cold dark eyes swirling dangerously. Blood dripped from his chin onto the floor.

I decided right then and there that I liked Nico.

Bill stomped towards Nico, pushing Leo, who quickly rose to Nico's defense, onto the ground.

"And just _what_ did you say?" Bill seethed, leaning in close to Nico with a snarl.

Nico refused to back down, clenching his jaw tightly, his hands forming fists. "I said, _fuck you_." He snarled, keeping his hard stance.

That kid had balls. Damn.

Bill's minions glanced at each other, probably knowing what would happen next. Even _I _was scared for him.

Bill punched Nico's face, knocking him to the floor.

Nico quickly got back onto his feet, stumbling backwards into the wall as he tried to regain his footing. "Punch me again!" He screamed, raising his tight fists. "_Try me_!"

Bill just smirked. "Have fun at the workhouse, _kid_." He sneered, his words dripping with disgust.

Then he turned and walked away, giving his minions the signal to take us away.

I glanced at Leo, who was massaging his shoulder. His eyes met mine and I could tell we both agreed on one thing: we weren't going down without a fight.

As one of the guards stepped towards me, I kicked him right where it hurts.

He crumpled to the ground with a groan, clutching his area of pain. "_Get them_!" He screamed to the other guards as I grabbed Leo's hand, pulling him towards the open door—to our freedom.

I was cut off by a huge guard, a beefy man with a large smirk. "Where do you think _you're _going, sweetheart?" He jeered as he pulled out a pistol, training it on my head.

"Don't shoot her!" Leo exclaimed, raising his arms in a sign of surrender. "We'll go!" He squeaked, his voice growing an octave higher as the man turned his gaze to him.

"Oh yeah?" The guard moved his pistol, focusing it on Leo instead. "How's that?"

Leo's eyes were wide in fear. "Who _are _you guys?" He asked, looking around at the other guards.

"A large gang." Nico replied from behind us. "They kidnap people and force them to make guns for them."

A guard grabbed Nico's arm, almost wrenching it off as he pulled him towards the door. "And we're taking you there _now_." The guard growled, holding a thrashing Nico tight.

"Now _move_." The beefy guard ordered, shoving me out of the room, along with Leo. He trained the gun at my back, forcing me to walk forward.

I glanced at Leo, who looked scared, but relieved that we weren't dead...yet.

I hoped one of my friends had a plan.

Or else we'd be stuck with a gang led by a man named Bill.

_Fuck you_, _Bill_.


	11. A happy reunion

**Damn this is going awesome. My inspiration's back and I'm going strong. **

**If you like, leave a review. It's awesome to read them. Thanks to everyone who reviewed.**

Jason Pov

_Piper_.

I gasped for air, my lungs bursting.

My captor, Asher, held my collar tightly, ready to force my head back into the barrel of water.

Water ran down my neck, racing its way into my tee shirt.

"I don't know anything!" I screamed, looking up at the man pressing me for information: _Jax_.

Jax was a tall, thin, but deadly man. He looked like he could be knocked over with a leaf blower, but don't let that fool you. He had money and in this world, money had more power than brute strength.

I would know. My dad, Zeus, worked with money all the time as a lawyer.

Jax gave me his famous sneer before looking up at Asher. "Dunk him again." He ordered, taking a seat in a foldable chair next to the barrel.

Asher forced my head into the water again, barely giving me time to take a breath.

I struggled under the water, but with my hands tied behind my back, I couldn't do much.

I screamed under the water, not caring that I was breathing in water. This was the tenth time Asher dunked me under and I was sick of it.

They thought that because my dad was the lawyer for the mayor, that I knew top secret information about the outbreak.

Asher pulled me out of the water, almost knocking me over.

I shook my head, struggling to breath as I wheezed and choked, regretting screaming under water.

Jax's face was two inches away from mine.

"Now you're going to tell me what you know about the outbreak and then we'll let you free." Jax repeated, saying the same thing he said ten times ago. "It's as easy as that, kid." He added, his eyes flickering up to Asher.

I choked, coughing up water. "I don't know anything!" I screamed, looking right into Jax's emerald green eyes. "I'm as clueless as you are!"

Jax slowly stood up as I gasped for air, struggling to breath.

"Take him back to his cell." Jax said quietly as he walked away, his shoes clacking loudly on the ground.

Asher forcefully pulled me up, almost choking me in the process. He dragged me away from the torture room and pulled me down the long hallway, making sure to shove me into the wall as we turned the corner.

I hated him.

As we passed the different cells, I spotted a few of my friends in one of them. Hazel and Annabeth were arguing with some girl our age.

Well…Annabeth was arguing. Hazel was watching the two argue in shock.

Nothing new.

I slowed down a bit, because I wanted to get their attention, but Asher pulled me forward, almost wrenching my arm out of its socket.

"Keep moving." He growled gruffly, sending me a harsh glare as we continued on.

"Got it." I muttered, almost stumbling as Asher led me past more cells, going too fast for me to dwell on the people inside.

Finally we reached a cell for me. Yay.

Asher shoved me inside and quickly locked the door behind me.

I slowly raised my head to see a familiar face that I thought I'd never be happy to see.

"_Percy!_"

Percy had been sitting on the bed, his head in his hands. When he heard my voice, he lifted his head and actually grinned.

"Jason!" Percy exclaimed, rushing over to me and helping me up. "What the hell _happened_ to you?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at my drenched state.

I shook my head. "They were torturing me for information. Those idiots thought that because my dad worked for the mayor that I knew how the outbreak started." I explained, rolling my eyes at the thought of Jax and his minions.

Percy frowned. "They tortured you for information? But Annabeth is the mayor's…" He trailed off as realization hit him, his eyes growing wide. "Shit, _Annabeth_!"

He ran over to the door, pounding on it as hard as he could. "_Let me out_!" He screamed, slamming his body against the door over and over again. "_Annabeth_!"

A sick feeling grew at the bottom of my stomach.

_What would they do to her? _

I had to stay strong. For Percy's sake.

"She'll be okay, Percy. She's strong." I reassured him, taking a step towards Percy, who seethed with anger.

"You should've made up something!" He screamed, shoving me backwards in anger. "Now they're torturing _her_ for information! This is all _your _fault!" He stomped over to a bed and kicked it, sending it across the room.

I fell backwards onto the wall, feeling anger start to rise inside of me. "_My _fault?" I asked, barely controlling my rage. "If it wasn't for me, we would've all died from zombies along time ago!" I screamed, shoving Percy back.

"Oh that's a lie and you know it." Percy snarled, stumbling as he tried to regain his footing. "_You're _the reason our car and supplies got stolen. If it wasn't for _you _and _Piper_, we would be far away from here!" He exclaimed, poking my chest. Hard.

"I said I was sorry!"

"Like you meant it! You're just a fucking _idiot_!"

"Oh, _fuck you_!"

"_Fuck you _too!"

Percy and I stood a few feet apart, breathing heavily as we glared at each other, refusing to back down.

"This isn't solving anything." I finally said with a sigh, turning and facing the wall. "We need to figure out a way to escape and save our friends."

"Save _Annabeth_." Percy corrected, sending me a glare.

Percy could be a little scary sometimes.

_Very _scary.

I racked my brain trying to figure out how we could escape this place.

Then the door flung open, loudly slamming against the wall.

Both Percy and I turned our heads quickly to see who it was.

I gasped out loud, incredulous at what I was seeing.

"Thalia?"

—

Thalia froze once she saw me, the pistol slipping out of her fingers.

It hit the ground and went off, the sound echoing throughout the room.

Thalia rushed forward, tackling me with a huge hug. "Jason!"

I hugged her back, unable to believe my luck. "Thalia! You're-You're alive!" I exclaimed, pulling out of the hug with a grin.

Thalia grinned back at me, her blue eyes sparkling. "Of course I am. You really thought I'd leave you to fight off zombies by yourself?" She teased, flicking my shoulder playfully.

"How'd you even get here?" I asked, my stomach bubbling with excitement.

Thank God Thalia's alive.

Thalia laughed, glancing at Percy, who just stared at us, a bored look on his face. "Long story short, I'm traveling with this group called the Hunters. We're led by this woman named Artemis." Thalia glanced at the door, like she was afraid someone would catch us. "We discovered this place is run by gang leaders and now Zoe, Phoebe, Artemis, and I are infiltrating it." She finished, looking back at me with a grin.

"Wait, you're here to set us free?" Percy asked, looking like our conversation finally gained his interest.

Thalia nodded, grabbing my hand. "You need to get out of here. Now." She warned, her smile fading and her eyes turning serious. "This people here are horrifying." She continued, glancing at Percy, who looked at me, his eyes wide and his face pale, his expression one of horror.

"Annabeth."


	12. Annabeth!

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Percy Pov

Thalia led us through the hallway, her gun held tightly in her hand.

"Here, take these." She said, tossing me a hunting knife, sheathed, of course, and Jason another pistol.

"Why does he get the pistol?" I complained, tossing the sheath behind me.

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Because he's my idiot brother. You're just an idiot." She replied, leading us around a corner.

"Not as much of an idiot as you."

"_Sure_."

"Thalia, how close are we to the other rooms?" Jason asked, shooting me a glare to shut up.

I shot him back a glare of my own.

I couldn't help but talk and insult people. I was so nervous about what was happening to Annabeth.

_She could die and you would be too late._

No. I had to stay positive. I'd already gotten into a fight with Jason. I didn't need a fight with Thalia, especially when she had a gun.

"Over here." Thalia called from a little ahead, turning the corner and disappearing into the dimly lit hallway.

Jason and I both glanced at each other before following her.

_Please let Annabeth be in a room, safe and sound. Please._

I turned the hallway to see Thalia fumbling to put a key into the lock of a door, a man slumped on the ground next to her.

"Holy shit, you _killed _him?" Jason asked, rushing over to the man, who had a nasty bump on his head.

"Like he deserves to live." Thalia muttered, shaking her head. "No, I just knocked him unconscious."

She turned the key and shoved open the door, almost knocking it off its hinges.

Hazel and a pretty Hispanic girl gaped at us, probably because they didn't expect to be saved.

"Jason! Percy!" Hazel exclaimed, rushing over to Jason with a huge smile. "You saved us!"

I looked around the room for Annabeth, but she wasn't inside. I began to feel sick as dark thoughts entered my mind.

_Too late. You were too late._

"Where's Annabeth?" I demanded, glaring at the Hispanic girl, who shook her head sadly. "She was taken. I'm sorry." She answered, looking down at the ground.

_No._

I turned and pushed past Jason and Thalia, my heart pounding in my chest. I began to run down the hallway, glancing at each window to see if Annabeth was inside.

_Gone. She's gone._

My lungs began to burst, legs aching as I began to run faster, hoping to _God _that I wasn't too late.

I heard Thalia scream my name from behind me, but I didn't care.

Annabeth couldn't wait.

I turned the corner and immediately knew Annabeth was in one of the rooms in the hallway.

I ran into a huge guard, a large light haired man with a blotchy red face.

_Shit_.

I ducked and dodged him, running as fast as I could towards the last door.

"_Hey!_ Someone grab that kid!"

I glanced behind me to see two more guards come out of the hallways, guns cocked and ready.

_Fuck. Fuck. Fuck._

I heard gunshots echo around the hallway from behind. I didn't dare look back.

"God dammit Percy!" Thalia yelled as more gunshots went off.

I kept running, hoping to God that I wasn't too late.

_Almost...there._

I slammed my body hard against the door, hoping I could knock it down in time.

_Bad choice. Very bad choice._

I groaned as I stumbled back, feeling like my shoulder just shattered into pieces.

_Where the hell was Jason when I finally needed him?_

As if on cue, Jason and Thalia came running, Hazel and the other girl behind them.

I began to pound on the door, my stomach beginning to churn as I imagined what could be happening on the other side of that door

_I swear to God, Annabeth, if you die on me…_

I threw myself at the door with all my strength, trying to knock it off its hinges.

…_.I'll never recover._

"Percy!" Thalia called out to me from far behind.

She ninja-kicked a man, making him crash into the wall. "Catch!" She shouted, flinging a ring of keys at me.

I jumped up and grabbed them, almost dropping them in my angry and panicked state. I jammed the first key through the keyhole and tried unlocking the door.

I let out a groan of frustration when it refused to turn. Then I moved onto the next key.

It wouldn't turn either.

Blood began to rush through my ears, turning off all surrounding noises. Thalia's yells and the gunshots had been tuned out, giving me time to figure out the stupid keys.

How many keys _were _there?

I flipped through the ring of keys, desperately going through them as fast as I could.

I let out a yell of anger as I clutched onto the last key, hoping to _God _it would work.

The key shook in my hands as I jammed it into the keyhole, quickly turning it.

I shoved the door open and rushed inside the room, afraid of what I was about to walk into.

The head guy of the place, Jax, stood a few feet away from Annabeth, whose arms were being held by two large bodyguard looking men. Her nose was bleeding, probably broken, and a fresh cut ran across her cheek down to her neck, a few drops of blood making their way down to her chin, joining the blood from her nose.

At that moment I wanted to kill those men.

Jax gave me a sly smile, a gun held gingerly by his fingers. "How _nice_ of you to join us, Mr Jackson." His eyes flickered from me to Annabeth, who glared at Jax, struggling to get out of her captors' grasps. The two men held on strong.

"I suggest you tell your men to get off of me or you'll be sorry." Annabeth warned him, her grey eyes flashing deviously at Jax, who just laughed a cold laugh that sounded throughout the room.

"You and what army?" Jax asked, raising his gun to Annabeth's forehead. His grin quickly faded from his face. "I think I'll kill you first. All your talking is starting to get on my nerves."

"I don't think so, Jax." Thalia's cold voice rang out from behind me as she cocked her gun, training it on Jax.

Jason nodded, glaring at Jax, his gun also training on Jax, ready to pull the trigger.

Jax paused, a momentary look of surprise flashing across his face. "Well then, I suppose this is an _interesting_ turn of events." He glanced at the two men holding Annabeth, seeming to be silently communicate with them.

"Let go of her, you filthy piece of shit." Thalia spat, her finger on the trigger of her gun. She looked as angry as I felt. She and Annabeth had been best friends before the apocalypse.

Jax's eyes swept across the room, studying Thalia, Jason, and I carefully, as if he were weighing out his choices.

"You're stuck, Jax," Thalia's voice rang out from behind me. "Let her go and maybe I'll think twice about killing you."

Jax raised an eyebrow at us, his lips forming a smug smirk. "I don't think so."

With a flash, he brought his gun down on Annabeth's head. _Hard_.

Then everything went to chaos.

Guns went off and before I knew it, I was screaming bloody murder, knife raised above my head as I ran towards Jax, who raised his gun to defend himself.

I pounced, knocking the gun out of his hand as I grabbed his collar, shoving him against the wall.

Jax was in a panic. "I've got money, power, and prestige that you can only _dream _of." He rambled, his eyes focused on my knife, which I clenched tightly, pressing it against his throat.

I scowled, pressing the knife against his windpipe. "You know what, Jax? That might've worked in the past for you—"

Jax let out a strangled gargle as he struggled to breath.

"—but this is the apocalypse. There's no money anymore. Just _chaos_." I pressed the knife further against his throat, probably crushing his windpipe.

Jax wheezed, making desperate choking noises as his eyes bulged from his lack of air.

"This is for hurting Annabeth and most of all, the people I _love_." I seethed, watching Jax's eyes practically bulge out his his skull, his lips turning blue.

"Percy, _no_!"

I shoved my knife into his throat, silencing the filthy bastard for good.

He crumpled to the floor beside my feet. His mouth fell open, filled with blood.

A few drops fell onto the floor, forming a small puddle.

I immediately felt sick to my stomach.

_You just made your first kill_.

I..._killed_ him. Snuffed the life out of his eyes. Without even thinking.

My stomach churned. I was a _murderer_.

I stumbled, grabbing onto the wall to stay steady.

"Percy?"

I slowly turned around to see Thalia, her eyebrows scrunched together in concern. They widened once she saw Jax's body sprawled out next to me, his head severed.

Instead of acting horrified, she tucked her gun away and gave me a curt nod. "Job's done." She whispered into her walkie talkie, keeping her focus on me.

A muffled voice sounded from the other end. "_Got it. Take them out back._"

I looked away from Thalia and ran over to Jason, who was checking Annabeth, to make sure she was okay.

_All your fault if she isn't_.

Annabeth let out a groan as she rubbed her head, wincing. "I'm—I'm fine." She mumbled, struggling to stand.

I caught her before she could collapse. "No you aren't." I said sternly, wrapping my arm around Annabeth's waist. "Sling your arm around my neck."

Too weak to argue, Annabeth obliged and I scooped her up, bridal style.

"Is he gone?" Annabeth mumbled subconsciously, her eyelids slowly closing.

I glanced over at Jax's mangled body. "You could say that."

"Good…"

"We need to get her to a doctor or something, Percy." Jason said, his blue eyes filled with worry as he glanced at Annabeth, who'd drifted off into unconsciousness, her head resting on my shoulder.

"I know someone."

We both turned to Thalia, whose eyes flickered between Jason and I. "Artemis's brother has a kid that's a doctor. I can take you to him." Her eyes drifted to Annabeth. "He can fix whatever shit went on in here. Probably get you guys some new clothes too." She added, eyeing my ripped jeans and torn jacket and Annabeth's blood covered cheer uniform.

I nodded, glancing down at Annabeth, who still looked beautiful, despite the blood all over her face. "Anything for Annabeth."

_Everything would be okay._

_It had to be after everything we've been through._


	13. Come and get it, asshats!

**Happy holidays to everyone! I've come back from my break and I plan on updating a bunch of my fanfics. **

**If you like, follow, favorite, and leave a review.**

Percy Pov

Thalia led us around the corners, keeping her gun down but ready to shoot if needed.

Piper and Jason behind her, their hands clasped together tightly for comfort.

When Thalia realized Jason had a girlfriend, she just ruffled his hair and said "about time".

To say Jason flushed like a tomato would be an understatement.

Behind the two love birds was the Hispanic girl from earlier, Reyna.

Reyna seemed okay. A little intimidating and suspicious of everyone, but I didn't blame her. This _was_ the apocalypse after all.

"Zoe and Phoebe should be getting your other friends," Thalia said as we turned a corner. "We'll meet 'em up in the front."

Jason looked puzzled. "What about Artemis?"

Thalia shrugged. "Artemis leads us. Whatever she says, we do. I've learned not to question where she is."

I glanced behind us at the trail of my bloody footprints. "Can we trust her?" I asked, glancing back at Thalia, whose expression was unreadable.

"We've got a camp going on," She answered, her electric blue eyes flickering to Annabeth in my arms. "For survivors like us."

_Survivors like us._

God, I wondered if anyone I knew survived. My mom, Tyson, my friends…

The funny thing was, never, not ever in my life would I have thought that I'd be dating Annabeth, the preppy cheerleader, and hanging out with Jason and Piper.

I'd always known Annabeth, but only as a cocky popular girl that thought she was better than me, with her honor roll, Mercedes Benz sports car, and expensive clothes.

Once I really got to know her, I realized she wasn't just a cocky popular cheerleader that thinks she owns the world.

Well, she was cocky, but she was also brilliant.

If anyone would survive this, it had to be Annabeth.

She was smarter and feistier than anyone else I knew.

I suddenly regretted all the times I'd made fun of her in the past, poking fun at her friends and her cheerleading outfits.

_You liked her all along, didn't you?_

The bright sunlight shook me out of my thoughts.

I spotted Piper, Leo, and someone I didn't recognize standing by a large van.

"Quickly, quickly," Thalia urged, waiting behind to make sure we all made it out safely.

Holding Annabeth tightly in my arms, I broke out into a run for the van.

I heard yells from behind me, making my blood run cold.

"_Get them!_" Bill screamed from behind me, sounding more enraged than before.

I glanced down at Annabeth in my arms.

_If he wants Annabeth, he'll have to pry her out of my hands._

I tried to speed up, but my legs ached from fatigue.

My heart pounded against my chest, blood pumping through my ears as I realized I wasn't going to make it.

The van was too far away. I could hear the footsteps of Bill's men pounding against the dirt. Dust particles flew everywhere, hanging in the air like spiders clinging onto their webs.

I glanced behind me to see one of Bill's men hanging closely behind me, growing closer and closer by the second.

_Fuck_.

I glanced around wildly, knowing I had to do _something_ so Annabeth could get away safely.

I spotted Jason a little ahead, only going slow to make sure Piper would make it.

_He would be fast enough._

I knew what I had to do.

"Jason!" I screamed, making the blonde's head turn.

_It's the only way._

I used my last ounce of energy to speed up to him and shove Annabeth into his arms.

"Promise me you'll make sure she's safe." I said through gasps, searching Jason's eyes for his answer.

Jason's mouth fell agape once he realized what I had planned. "Percy, _no!_"

I whirled around and raced towards Bill's men, whipping out my bloody knife—stained with the blood of their former leader, _Jax_.

_I'm so, so sorry Annabeth. _

_You'll forgive me one day._

_All for you._

"Come on and get it, _asshats_!" I screamed, raising my knife wildly in the air.

I glanced behind me for a second, watching Jason race away, Annabeth in his arms.

I felt a deep rage churn in my chest.

_I'm so sorry, Annabeth._

I roared as I ran into battle, determined to be the last minute distraction to save my friends.

_Annabeth, I love you._


	14. Camp Survivor

Sorry to leave you on a cliffhanger like that. A special thanks to everyone who reviewed.

Annabeth Pov

Glass surrounded me, trapping me.

And I was all alone.

Panic gripped me, making my heart race and my palms sweat. "Hello?" I called out, taking a step towards the glass wall.

It was cage-like, trapping me inside.

I heard a tap from behind me, faint, but definitely there.

I whirled around to see Percy, who looked as if he'd just gone through a field of chainsaws. His face was all cut up and bruised, his right hanging limply at his side as he knocked on the glass with his left.

He barely looked alive.

I rushed over to the glass, raising my hand up to match his. "Percy!" I screamed, searching for a way out of my prison.

"It's all your fault, Annabeth." Percy croaked, blood dripping from his mouth onto the floor.

My heart caught in my chest, prickly goosebumps covering my arms. "No—"

Percy's green eyes flashed with dark rage. "You're fault!" He screamed, spitting blood all over the glass between us.

He began to pound on the window, trying to break through, his face melting away into an enraged zombie's.

I couldn't breath. I took a step backwards, hitting the glass wall behind me.

"If it weren't for you I'd be safe, Annabeth." Zombie Percy jeered, splattering blood all over the walls and floor.

The glass prison began to fill with blood, thick blood that churned into a swirling mixture at my feet.

I screamed, looking up at Percy.

He was gone.

"Per—Percy?" I stammered, looking left and right, my heart pounding in my chest.

The blood kept filling beneath me, now reaching my knees.

I tried to move, but I couldn't. I was stuck, the blood forcing me to stay still.

"Percy!" I pleaded, searching for a way out of the glass prison.

"Annabeth…"

I looked down and screamed as Percy's severed head bobbed up and down in the pool of blood that was now at my waist.

"YOUR FAULT! YOUR FAULT! YOUR FAULT!" He roared, his face starting to crack and fall apart.

I tried to scream, but my voice got caught in my throat, strangling me to silence.

The blood reached up to my face and drenched me, dragging me into the thick, sludgy blood.

I choked as Percy's words echoed around me in the blood, taking punches wherever they could.

Percy...

Lights flashed around me. Hushed voices spoke, echoing around my ears.

"Is she going to be okay?"

"Oh my God, what will she do when she finds out—"

"She'll murder us, that's what. She won't be able to take it—"

"No shit, Leo. Percy meant a lot to her."

"Means a lot to her. He's not dead, Piper."

"I saw him fall—"

"You don't know what you saw. Hell, I don't know what I saw."

"Guys, I think she's waking up—"

I groaned, struggling to open my eyes.

I felt like I'd been hit with a sledgehammer.

Utterly exhausted and broken.

"Annabeth, can you hear me? It's Jason."

A warm hand slipped into mine, squeezing mine once.

Percy?

I opened my eyes to see not Percy, but Jason, his eyebrows scrunched together with worry.

"Where's-Where's Percy?" I croaked, my throat scratchy and dry like sandpaper.

I tried to sit up, but my arms wouldn't hold up. My whole body felt like jello.

I got a view of my right hand and saw why. A white bandage was tightly wrapped around it, lightly stained with blood.

Jax.

"Easy, Annabeth." A different blonde kid knelt by my side, slipping a pillow underneath my head. "You've been through a lot."

He looked like some sort of a teenage doctor, with a stethoscope tangled around his neck and a doctor's mask tucked into his white coat pocket.

His voice seemed soothing, but I didn't want soothing. I wanted Percy.

I shook my head, trying to sit up again. "Where's Percy?" I asked, finally succeeding in sitting up.

No one answered.

Piper bit her lip and glanced down at the floor. Leo just gave me a look like his dog just died. Jason clenched his jaw, his expression conflicted.

My dream...

I pulled my hand away from Jason's and kicked away the covers of the bed.

The blonde doctor rose to his feet, reaching out to help me.

I shot him a glare, stopping him in his tracks. "Don't."

Jason winced. "Annabeth—"

"Tell me where he is." I snarled, my heart racing.

If my dream was true...

"Annabeth, he—he sacrificed himself to save you." Piper exclaimed, taking a step backwards as I turned my focus on her. "He saved your life."

The whole room went silent. The dripping of water falling onto the roof above us could be heard as clear as day.

No, no, no, this couldn't be happening.

My knees gave away beneath me, my heart plummeting because I knew those words were true.

And it was all my fault, just like in my dream.

If it hadn't been for me, Percy would be alive.

I let out a sob as Jason caught me, wrapping his arms around me.

Percy was...gone. Just like that.

The others cleared the room, leaving Jason and I alone.

I was never close with Jason, but at that moment, he was the only person that could comfort me.

I quickly wiped my tears away. I refused to cry in front of Jason.

"Annabeth, we don't know that he's gone." He said softly, setting his gentle hands on my shoulders.

I scrunched my eyebrows together, looking up at Jason, puzzled. "I thought Piper said—"

Jason shook his head, a hopeful smile tracing across his lips. "None of us actually saw him get hurt. There's still a chance that he's out there, fighting to get to us."

I felt like he'd just slapped me across my face. "You mean you left him there?" I asked, taking a step away from Jason, whose eyes widened.

"No! There wasn't enough—"

The door flung open, revealing a tall woman with dark chocolate brown hair in two tight braids and silver eyes that shone like moons. She had striking features, but looked like someone you definitely wouldn't want to mess with. A gun hung at her waist, ready for use.

Jason and I glanced at each other with matching looks of confusion.

I resumed my stern glare, crossing my arms and keeping my guard up as I studied the woman, wondering if she could be trusted.

The woman's piercing silver eyes flickered between Jason and I. "Thalia's brother?" She asked, turning her gaze to Jason, who nodded, although he looked ready to fight if he needed to.

"And Annabeth Chase?" The woman's silver eyes flashed to me, swirling with sudden interest.

I instinctively reached for my dagger, which wasn't there. I'd lost it in that stupid prison.

Where Percy could be getting tortured right now. Or worse…

The woman's lips lifted into a half smile. "There's no need for weapons right now, although I admire your bravery." She said, eyeing my bandaged right hand.

I let my hand drop to my side. "Are you in charge of this place?"

The woman nodded. "I'm Artemis. Welcome to Camp Survivor."

—

"Every survivor has a place in Camp Survivor." Artemis explained as we walked down a long hallway with white walls speckled with dust. Her combat boots clacked against the floor. "Well, every survivor that follows the rules." She added, glancing back at Jason and I with a stern look.

I was too entranced with the design of the facility to notice. The whole facility was designed to keep the zombies out and the survivors safe.

Metal covered hallways connected six different metal buildings, all guarded by men and women holding large guns, positioned outside the front doors, near the back entrances, and throughout the hallways.

"Where are our friends?" Jason asked, turning his gaze away from a row of guns aligned on the wall. His eyes met mine and I could tell we were both thinking the same thing: could this place really be trusted?

"Exploring their rooms, as you will in a few moments." Artemis replied, turning a corner.

Jason and I glanced at each other before following.

I still didn't trust her, but it's not like we had much of a choice.

I had to play along in order to save Percy.

"Do you send out search missions for survivors?" Jason asked suddenly, as if he'd read my mind.

Artemis hesitated, slowing to a stop as she turned around, her eyes catching mine. "You're talking about your friend that you lost in the facility, aren't you?" She asked, her eyebrows lowering in concern. "I'm sorry, Annabeth, but he's gone."

I clenched my fists, shaking my head at Artemis. "No. He can't be." I looked at Jason, who also looked angry.

"What if he's not?" He demanded, looking up at Artemis, who hesitated.

I already knew it: they weren't going to waste their time searching for Percy.

"We can't spend lots of supplies and time going back to a place where you barely survived." Artemis explained, her silver eyes focused on me.

She shook her head and began walking again. "You're just teens. You shouldn't have to deal with this shit." She muttered, glancing back at Jason and I.

I felt a twinge of anger, my hands twitching restlessly. I knew Artemis didn't mean to offend Jason and I, but I couldn't help but feel pissed.

Just teens.

I'd grown up with that phrase my whole life.

You're just a girl.

You're just a dumb blonde.

You're just some popular cheerleader.

Excuses. All of them.

I was more than that. More than just some cheerleader.

And I was not a dumb blonde.

My mind set, I turned to Jason, who seemed to be deep in thought, his eyebrows all scrunched up as he stared off into the distance. "I'm not staying here." I said slowly, knowing what I had to do.

Jason snapped out of his trance. "What?" He asked, giving me a confused look.

I shook my head. "I have to find Percy. And I have to find him tonight."

Hopefully my friends would agree.


	15. Fishylike fish sticks

**A special thanks to everyone who reviewed. You guys are so awesome. **

Piper Pov

"I can't stay here and wait around for news about Percy." Annabeth said, already set on her random plan to go _back _to the facility and find Percy.

Crazy? Yes, but then again, this was _Annabeth_, so I honestly wasn't too surprised.

She definitely looked shaken up and on edge.

I wondered what had happened in that room with Jax.

Leo's eyes practically bulged out of his head. "Are you kidding? Annabeth, I'm not going back _there_!" He exclaimed, spreading his arms out and waving them. "_You_ almost got killed there!"

Annabeth refused to back down. "I'm not leaving him there." She insisted, refusing to back down from her crazy, and probably reckless plan. "It's fine if you don't want to go. I just—" She faltered, struggling to hold everything together. "I can't stay here knowing that Percy's out there."

She turned around and began packing her backpack—a heavy duty backpack the facility provided—examining a sharp knife before shoving it in.

"Annabeth where the hell did you get those weapons?" I asked, eyeing a pistol and a bag of bullets next to her backpack.

Annabeth hesitated before answering. "They came with the backpack." She said quickly, shoving in the bullets and gun.

I admired her bravery. How she didn't care that she was about to go alone on some suicide mission to save Percy.

"Annabeth's right." Jason piped, glancing at Annabeth, who continued to pack her bag with numerous weapons and health supplies.

I really didn't want to think about where she'd gotten those from.

I stared at him, unable to believe the words that had just came out of his mouth. "Jason, you _can't_ be serious."

Jason met my eyes, his jaw set. "Piper, if there's a chance that he's alive—"

"_Dude! _We all saw him sacrifice himself!" Leo exclaimed, his eyes wide. "I'm not going on some suicide mission to rescue Percy when we don't even know whether he's alive or not!"

"_I _know that he's alive!" Annabeth snarled, whirling around to face Leo, who jumped back in shock.

"Annabeth, you really don't." I said with a sigh, taking a step towards Annabeth, who looked ready to murder me.

"Piper, you can take your opinion and shove it up your—"

"He is alive."

We all turned to see Nico step out from the shadows, his dark eyes sweeping across the room. "They don't _kill_ people at that place. They take them to the _workhouse_."

Reyna frowned. "The _workhouse_? What the hell is that?"

Suddenly, it dawned on me.

_The workhouse. They make you make guns for them. _

"They force you to make guns for them." I said slowly, glancing at Nico, who nodded sullenly.

"My sister...she was taken there." Nico looked pained. "A big factory thing. There's no escape."

"_Exactly_ why we shouldn't go back there." Leo muttered, extending his hand out to Nico, who shook his head, his hands shoved into his pockets as he looked out into the barred window.

"We have to get him. Or else he'll never get out."

"_What—_"

"Really?" Annabeth asked, her eyebrows raised in surprise, like she didn't expect Nico to agree with her.

"_The—_"

Nico nodded, giving Annabeth a half smile. "I'm in. My sister's in there too."

Reyna stood up from her bunk, glancing around the room. "I'm also in," She announced, glancing at Nico with a nod. "If what you're saying is true...then my sister might be alive."

"What the fuck, guys!" Leo shouted, glaring at Nico. "What the hell, man? I thought you were on my side!"

Nico bit his lip. "My sister's stuck in there. I _have _to help her."

Leo whirled around to Hazel, who had been so quiet the whole time that I'd forgotten she was even there. "What about you, Hazel?" He asked, taking a step towards Hazel, who looked conflicted.

"I don't know...but if everyone else is going, I'll go too." She decided, looking up at Leo, who let out a deep breath, running a hand through his hair.

"Wonderful. Just _wonderful_."

Then, Leo turned to me, his eyes

practically pleading with me, reminding me of when he used to beg me for my last piece of gum all the time back in school. "Come on, Beauty Queen," He begged, gently touching my arm. "Tell then you're with me."

_Fuck_.

I was the deciding vote.

Well, not deciding. Annabeth was probably going to march in there anyway, backup or no backup.

Jason gave me a gentle look, his eyebrows raise in concern. "Piper, if you don't want to—"

"I'll go." I said quickly, looking down at the ground so I wouldn't have to look at Leo.

I couldn't help it. I glanced up at Leo, who looked hurt and betrayed, his eyebrows raised in surprise and his mouth hanging ajar. My stomach twisted with guilt in betraying my best friend.

_You chose a boy you've been with for about two days over your best friend that you've known for eight years. Way to go, Pipes._

"It's decided then. We're all—"

"Woah, woah, woah. Hold the _fuck_ up." Leo glanced around the room, a pained look on his face. "We're all just going to go with Annabeth's suicide plan and go _back _to the people who tried to kill us? Bill? Jax?"

Jason cleared his throat. "Actually, Percy killed Jax."

Leo shot him a glare. "Wonderful. Now they'll be even _more _angry this time around."

"Leo, are you coming or not?" Annabeth asked with a roll of her eyes, her arms crossed.

Leo groaned, running his hands through his hair. "Well shit. I'm not staying here alone." He began to pace around the room, like he used to whenever he got the parts for an invention wrong.

Annabeth zipped her backpack up and turned around to face us, her startling grey eyes sweeping across the room. "I have a plan." She announced, giving Jason a look, like he already knew of her plan.

"Wonderful. She has a plan." Leo muttered sarcastically as he plopped down onto a bunk. He shook his head in disbelief, meeting my eyes.

I tried to smile at him, but he just looked away, ignoring me.

"We all go to lunch, and then dinner and do whatever they make us do until night. Then make our exit in the dark, where we would be hidden from view." Annabeth said slowly, as if we were a class of children learning the abc's. "Now, yes, there's zombies, but we would be ready. Always travel in pairs."

"And there's exactly enough for pairs." Nico interrupted, glancing around at everyone. "Everyone watches for their partner."

"Partner_s_." Leo corrected, shooting Annabeth a glare. "I don't know if you're just used to always having a partner, but we've got an uneven number." He said, glancing around the room.

I mentally winced. Taking jabs at Annabeth _definitely _wasn't necessary and wouldn't end well for Leo.

I glanced at Annabeth, who looked ready to strangle Leo. Jason laid his hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down. "Make sure to scope out the place too, guys." He said, wisely changing the topic of conversation. "I don't trust this place."

Reyna nodded in agreement. "This whole camp seems a little _fishy_."

"Like fish sticks." Leo said from his bunk, nodding slowly with a very serious expression on his face.

We all stared at him.

"What? Does no one appreciate a good pun anymore?"

Annabeth just rolled her eyes, muttering something inaudible under her breath, still salty over Leo's jab. "Whatever. Who's pairing up with who?" She asked, her eyes scanning across the room.

_Now comes the hard part._

The whole room fell silent.

This was literally partnering up in class all over again.

"_Partner up everyone! Only two to a group." My chemistry teacher called out from the back of the room._

"_Hey, Annabeth, want to be my partner?" Marcus, one of the popular jocks in my class, asked, giving Annabeth a cocky smirk. Annabeth gave him a forced smile, trying to inch away from his hands, which were slowly working themselves up her skirt._

"_Hey, Jason." Drew said, giving Jason a flirtatious smile as she took his hand in hers. Jason looked very uncomfortable and glanced at one of his jock friends for help._

_I was always forced to work with Rachel, a nice, but unpopular girl in the school. She was new, but had already tarnished her reputation when she made the mistake of picking a fight with Annabeth on the first day of school._

_Not a good choice._

_The only person who didn't have a partner was Percy, who always worked alone. Not that he really did any work. _

I cringed at the thought of those high school memories. Although the apocalypse had only been going on for a few days, the thought of high school sounded so far away in the past.

"Piper?"

I blinked, looking up at Jason, my brain foggy. "Uh, what?"

"Do you want to be my partner?" Jason asked, giving me a brilliant smile.

I grinned, taking his hand in mine. "Of course." I replied, reaching up and kissing his cheek.

I glanced across the room, curious to see how the others paired up.

"Reyna, Hazel, wanna pair up?" Leo asked, shoving his hands in his pockets as he grinned at Reyna and Hazel.

Reyna shrugged. "Why not?" She glanced at Hazel, who nodded with a smile.

"I'd love to." She agreed, giving Leo a small smile. "Do you always wear that tool belt?" She suddenly asked, glancing down at Leo's trusty tool belt.

Leo nodded. "Yup. You never know when it'll come in handy." He said, patting his tool belt.

On the other side of the room, Nico approached Annabeth, hands shoved into his pockets.

What is it with boys shoving their hands in their pockets?

"Hey, Annabeth, right?" Nico asked, watching as Annabeth pulled a white sweatshirt over her head.

"Yep." Annabeth poked her arms and head out through the holes of the sweatshirt and gave Nico a quick smile. "Want to pair up?" She asked, pulling a hair tie from her wrist and tying her hair up in a tight ponytail, curls bouncing.

Nico nodded with a half grin. "Sure."

I turned to Jason with a grin. "How the hell does Annabeth have a hair tie at this point?" I asked, glancing back at Annabeth, who was already deep in conversation with Nico about some book.

Jason shrugged. "Who knows. It's Annabeth."

"Good point."

Annabeth was always the prepared one.

At school, she always had an answer, whether it was to a teacher's question or an argument with a classmate.

"_I always have a plan." Annabeth said as she led our team in gym class in the basketball game._

Hopefully her current plan would work.

I didn't even want to begin imagining what would happen if it didn't.


End file.
